UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

SAN  DIEGO 
Donated  in  memory  of 

John  W.    Snvder 
by 

His  Son  and  Daught er 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  01! 
CAUFOOMA 

SAN  DIEGO 


' 


JOHN   W.'SNYDEK 


LIVINGSTONE 

LOST  AND  FOUND, 

OR 

AFRICA  AND  ITS  EXPLORERS.- 


A  COMri.ETE  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  COUNTRY  AND    ITS    INHABITANTS,  TKEIR    CUSTOMS,  MAN- 
NEKS,  4C.,  OF  THE  PROMINENT  MISSIONARY  STATIONS,  OF  THE  DIAMOND 
AND  GOLD  FIELDS,  AND  OF  EXPLORATIONS  MADE  J 


WITH  A  COMPREHENSIVE  BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF 
DR.  DAVID  LIVINGSTONE, 

HIS  TRAVELS,  ADVENTURES,  EXPERIENCES  AND    DISAPPEARANCE, 

AND  A  MOST   INTERESTING   ACCOUNT  OF  HIS   DISCOVERT   BY 
THE    AMERICAN    EXPEDITION,    IN    COMMAND    OF 

HENRY  M.  STANLEY. 


WITH  OVER  ONE  HUNDRED  ILLUSTRATIONS  AND  MAPS. 


COMPILED    AND    ARRANGED     WITH     GREAT     CARE,    FROM   THE   MOST   AUTHENTIC 

SOURCES,   WITH  AN   INTRODUCTION  AND   CHAPTER   ON  NATAL, 

BY 

REV.   JOSIAH   TYLER, 

MISSIONARY  OF  THK  A.    B.    C.   F.   M.,   IN  AFRICA  FOB  TWENTY-TWO  YEARS. 


PUBLISHED  BY  SUBSCRIPTION  ONLY. 


HARTFORD,  CONN. : 

MUTUAL    PUBLISHING    COMPANY. 

D.  ASHMEAD,  PHILADELPHIA,  PKNN  ;    W.  E.  BLISS,  TOLEDO,  OHIO.; 

NETTLETON  &  CO.,  CINCINNATI.  OHIO.      F  G.  OILMAN  &  CO..  CHICAGO,  ILL.: 

FRANCIS  DEWING  &  CO.,  SAN  FRANCISCO,  CAL. 

1873. 


I 

Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1872,  by  the 

MUTUAL  PUBLISHING  COMPANY, 
In  the  o.T:ce  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


mTRODUCTIOK 


THAJSTC  GOD  that  Africa,  long-neglected  and  down-trodden, 
is  "looming  up"  in  the  estimation  of  the  civilized  and  Christian 
"world.  In  my  boyhood  I  used  to  sing  of  "  Af ric's  sunny 
fountains,"  and  in  visions  of  the  night  beheld  men  rushing 
to  that  country  for  its  "golden  sands ;"  but  little  did  I  antici- 
pate that  I  should  ever  handle  its  precious  stones,  breathe  its 
balmy  air,  drink  of  its  waters,  bathe  in  its  rivers,  eat  its  lus- 
cious fruits,  and  labor  many  years  in  the  evangelization  of  its 
inhabitants. 

But  it  has  been  even  so.  And  now,  Header,  do  not  be 
surprised  if  you  perceive  in  this  Introduction  some  glow  of 
enthusiasm.  I  cannot  write  otherwise.  Africa  is  my  adopted 
country,  the  birth-place  of  my  children,  my  past  and  future 
residence.  The  clear  and  lovely  skies,  bright  and  abundant 
flowers,  beautifully  plumed  songsters  of  the  grove,  graceful 
antelopes  bounding  from  cliff  to  cliff,  the  king  of  beasts  walk- 
ing about  in  his  majesty — these  and  a  hundred  reminiscences 
rush  into  my  mind  as  I  think  of  my  African  home.  Africa ! 
dark  though  thou  hast  been  for  centuries,  thy  history  obscure, 
thy  condition  gloomy,  thy  people  degraded,  thy  coasts  abound- 
ing in  malignant  fevers — thou  hast  a  history  which  was  once 
bright,  and  is  destined,  we  believe,  to  become  still  brighter. 


IV  INTRODUCTION. 

"What  associations  spring  up  in  our  minds,  as  we  contciri- 
platc  the  past  of  this  continent !  We  will  not  forget  that 
though  for  nearly  two  thousand  years  overshadowed  with 
ignorance  and  barbarism,  it  was  once  the  home  of  science  and 
literature.  We  have  been  accustomed  to  regard  it  as  a  barren 
waste,  "  full  of  the  habitations  of  cruelty,"  only  fit  for  wild 
beasts  and  wild  men.  Let  us  remember  that  Moses,  the 
greatest  hero  and  law-giver  the  world  has  ever  seen,  was  born 
and  educated  here ;  that  the  Pharaohs  here  once  reigned  in  all 
the  pomp  and  magnificence  of  oriental  splendor;  that  the 
grandest  ruins  of  all  antiquity  arc  found  "here  ;  that  architec- 
ture has  here  been  carried  to  a  perfection  which  has  baffled 
the  skill  of  all  modern  artisans;  that  here  once  flourished  large 
and  beautiful  cities,  filled  with  literary,  military,  and  commer- 
cial men ;  that  Europe  is  indebted  to  Africa  for  letters  and 
arts;  that  Greece  even  traces  her  civilization  to  Egypt,  and 
that  while  all  Europe  was  covered  with  gross  darkness,  Africa 
was  radiant  with  science  and  literature.  Astronomy  was 
taught  in  African  schools  before  Germany  had  ever  heard  of 
a  school -house.  Africans  were  clothed  in  purple  and  dwelt 
in  palaces,  when  Englishmen  covered  themselves  with  skins 
of  wild  beasts,  and  crawled  into  low  mud  huts — nothing  supe- 
rior to  those  now  occupied  by  Kaffirs  and  Hottentots.  Christ, 
though  not  born  in  Africa,  was  cradled  here,  and  some  of  the 
most  distinguished  fathers  of  the  Christian  church  have  here 
resided. 

What  a  change  centuries  have  wrought  in  this  continent ! 
Carthage,  once  the  rival  of  Rome,  is  such  a  perfect  waste  that 
scarcely  a  vestige  of  her  former  greatness  remains.  Thebes, 
of  which  Homer  sang  as  "  the  glory  of  the  whole  earth,"  is 
now  a  perfect  desolation,  though  the  city  was  so  substan- 
tially built  that  the  remains  of  her  temples,  porticoes,  galle- 


INTKODUCTIOX.  V 

ries,  and  statuary,  still  testify  to  her  former  magnificence. 
The  desolation  of  her  people  is  as  great  as  that  of  the  cities. 
Where  the  Ptolemies  once  reigned  for  long  generations  over 
wise,  rich,  and  proud  men,  there  now  resides  a  race  so  poor 
and  abject,  that  none  are  willing  to  do  them  reverence.  Where 
Osymandyas  built  his  literary  hall,  stored  with  all  the  valuable 
writings  of  his  time,  and  significantly  styled  "  The  Dispensary 
of  the  mind,"  there  is  now  gross  ignorance.  Africa,  once 
the  home  of  freedom,  has  been  for  a  long  time  the  store  house 
of  slaves.  Men  have  captured  and  sold  their  fellow-men  like 
cattle. 

We  rejoice  in  the  dawn  of  another  era.  The  cloud  is  being 
lifted  from  Africa,  revealing  a  country  desolate,  but  still  rich 
in  all  the  elements  of  her  former  glory.  The  soil  is  fertile, 
beyond  the  calculations  of  those  who  have  never  resided  in 
tropical  climates.  Here  grow  luxuriantly  cotton,  tobacco, 
rice,  coft'ee,  sugar-cane,  indigo,  arrow-root,  ginger,  flax,  the 
various  grains,  and  all  manner  of  fruits.  Here  are  large  lakes, 
and  numerous  rivers,  diamond  fields,  and  mines  of  iron,  lead, 
copper,  gold  and  other  metals. 

The  climate  on  the  table  lands  is  delightful.  What  is  better, 
the  native  inhabitants  are  susceptible  of  civilization  and  Chris- 

A 

tianization.     The  African  is  not  like  the  Indian,  doggedly 
persistent  in  his  barbarism,  and  therefore  apparently  destined' 
to  extermination  ;  but  under  the  crushing  circumstances  which 
have  held  him  to  the  earth  for  successive  generations,  he  is 
still  a  man.     In  our  observations  of  him  we  agree  with  Dr. 
Livingstone,  who  thiirks  the  native  African  has  that  inherent 
manhood,  the  traces  of  which  no  unfavorable  circumstances- 
will  complctelyvobliterate. 

The  progress  already  ma^e  in  the  elevation  of  Africa  is 
wonderful.  Schools  and  churches  have  been  established  at 


VI  INTRODUCTION. 

numerous  mission  stations.  Agricultural  implements  have 
been  imported  in  large  numbers  to  aid  the  cause  of  civiliza- 
tion. The  Missionary,  Dr.  Moffat,  reported : — 

"  There  goes  through  our  station  now,  no  less  than  £70,000 
worth  of  British  manufactures  to  the  tribes  round  about. 
"  What  a  contrast  between  this,  and  the  time  when  a  trader 
would  stop  a  week  or  two  without  being  able  to  sell  a  single 
handkerchief.  There  was  a  time  when  there  was  but  a  soli- 
tary plow,  and  that  was  the  missionary  plow,  a  Dutch  one, 
and  a  very  clumsy  thing  to  boot.  Now  the  natives  have  their 
plows  by  hundreds. 

"  There  was  a  time  when  the  man,  the  lord  of  creation,  would 
select  for  himself  such  a  choice  work  as  sitting  under  the 
shadow  of  a  tree,  while  his  wife  worked  in  a  field  from  morn- 
ing to  night,  with  a  heavy  pick.  Now  she  has  the  comfort 
of  seeing  him  plough  his  garden — her  garden ;  she  has  no 
objection  to  harvesting,  and  to  scuffle  a  little  to  take  away 
the  weeds." 

Naked  Africans  are  being  clothed,  and  their  empty  minds 
filled  with  thought.  Superstition  is  fast  yielding  to  the 
Christian  religion.  True  "  there  remaineth  much  land  to  be 
possessed  " — but  enough  has  been  accomplished  to  promise  a 
more  glorious  future  for  this  continent  than  was  ever  recorded 
of  her  in  the  past. 

From  the  "singular  indestructibility"  of  her  races,  their  pecu- 
liar genius,  their  "  strong  affections,  unspeakable  long-suffer- 
ing under  injuries,  great  endurance,  perceptiveness  and  recep- 
tiveness,  the  marvelous  Providence  which  has  brought  them 
into  our  land  to  be  educated  in  bitter  bondage  by  Anglo 
Saxon  task-masters,"  we  infer  that  Africa  has  a  glorious  part 
yet  to  play  in  the  great  drama  of  history. 

What  if  she  should  prove  to  be  the  heart  of  the  world, 


IXTRODUCTIOJ?'.  Vli 

as  the  Caucasian  race  has  already  shown  itself  to  be  the 
brains  \  We  are  observing  constantly,  illustrations  of  the  remark 
once  made  by  the  late  Hon.  Edward  Everett,  "  All  doubts 
of  the  capacity  of  the  African  race  for  self  government,  of 
their  improvability  under  favorable  circumstances,  seem  .to  be 
removed  by  what  we  witness  at  the  present  day,  both  in  our 
own  country  and  on  the  coast  of  that  continent." 

Notwithstanding  all  the  explorations  of  Africa  which  have 
been  made  and  published  during  the  nineteenth  century,  there 
is  still  a  lamentable  ignorance  of  this  part  of  the  world.  Com- 
paratively few  are  aware  what  a  rich  field  for  commercial 
and  benevolent  enterprises  it  presents.  Many  still  regard  its 
interior  as  a  vast  waste,  un watered  and  uninhabitable,  and  the 
native  African  as  devoid  of  all  the  finer  feelings  of  humanity. 
Campbell,  Livingstone,  Speke,  Burton,  Grant  and  Stanley  tell 
a  different  story.  So  do  MofFat,  Shaw,  Grout,  Lindley  and 
other  missionary  laborers. 

The  design  of  this  book  is  to  dispel  the  prevailing  ignor- 
ance of  her  geography,  productions  and  people.  Most  heart- 
ily do  we  recommend  it  to  all  who  wish  for  information  up 
'to  the  period  of  the  latest  discoveries.  Viewing  Africa 
from  a  philanthropic  and  Christian  stand-point,  what  a  grand 
theatre  for  benevolent  operations  1  Here  is  a  whole  continent 
to  be  redeemed  from  barbarism.  "Will  not  America,  from 
whom  Africa  has  suffered  so  much,  do  her  part  in  its  evan- 
gelization? 

J.  T. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE    CONTINENT    OF    AFRICA. 

As  known  to  the  Ancients — Isthmus  of  Suez — The  Suez  Canal — Attempt  to 
build  by  Pharaoh — Ancient  Commerce — Desert  of  Sahara — Mountains 
— Rivers — Area — Climate — Geology  of  the  Country — Agricultural  re- 
sources— Population — Products — Exports If 

CHAPTER  II. 

AFRICA   AND    ITS    INHABITANTS. 

People  of  the  Barbary  States — Of  the  Great  Desert  Sahara — Goblins  of  the 
Desert — Tibboos  and  Turicks — Bedouins — Arab  Maids — Hamran  Sword 
Hunters — Nubians — A  Land  of  Mystery — Fire  Worshippers — Abyssinian 
Wedding — The  Story  of  Kassai — Theodore  and  his  Lions — Native 
Tribes 23 

CHAPTER  III. 

AFRICA  AND  ITS  INHABITANTS.  (CONTINUED). 

Bornu— A  caged  Sultan— Effects  of  a  royal  Drink— The  Shooas— The 
Mandingoes — Liberia — The  Krumen — The  Gold  Coast — The  Fanti  and 
Ashanti — Gold  Coast — Free  Love — King  restricted  to  3,333  Wives — A 
New  Theory  of  Man's  Origin— Dahomey — An  Amazon  Review— The 
King  of  Dahomey — A  Public  Celebration — The  Evil  Night — Five- 
Hundred  Lives  Sacrificed — The  Egbas — The  Alake  on  his  Throne — A 
Native  Bishop — The  King  of  Benin  and  his  White  Wife — The  King  of 
Bonny  and  his  English  Dupes — Lower  Guinea — New  Method  of  Choos- 
ing a  Ruler — Curious  customs  relating  to  Twins — Mumbo  Jumbo 
— Congo — Crowning  the  King — The  Ovambos — A  Queen's  Dance 
—  "That's  the  trick  boys" — The  Damara  —  Marriage  between  a 
Native  Woman  and  aBaboon — Natal  and  Cape  Colonies — The  Bcchuanas 
Koranna  aud  other  Tribes — Woman  turned  into  a  Lion — The  Hotten- 
tots— Their  Kraals — Why  they  Move  their  Houses — The  Bushman 
— Central  African  Tribes 46 

CHAPTER  IV. 

AFRICAN  EXPLORATIONS. 

Ancient  attempts  to  explore  Africa — Phoenician  Settlement  three-thousand 
years  ago — Invasion  by  the  Arabs  in  the  Seventh  Century — Modern 
Explorations — The  Portuguese  in  Fifteenth  Century — Discoveiie^  of 


X  CONTENTS. 

Vasco  Da  Gama — Opening  of  the  Slave  Trade — English  Explorations 
in  Africa — Mungo  Park — His  Death — Routes  from  Tripoli  through  the 
Great  Desert  sought  by  Major  Denham  and  others — Captain  Clapper- 
ton's  Expedition  from  Guinea — Lander's  Attempts — Discovery  of  the 
Mouth  of  the  Niger — Steam  Navigation  of  the  Niger — M.  Du.  Chaillu 
— His  wild  adventures  with  Gorillas  and  Natives — Among  the  Ashiras 
— Winwood  Reade  with  the  Fans  and  Gammas — Talk  with  a  Cannibal 
— Earth's  Travels  with  Richardson  and  Overweg — Cape  Town  Founded 
— Campbell's  Travels — Rev.  Robert  Moffatt's  Explorations — The  Great 
King  —  Claiming  Rain  —  Anderssen's  Travels  Among  The  Ovambo'a 
— Captain  Messum's  Experiences  —  Ladislaus  Magyar's  Journies — Mar- 
ries A  Native  Princess — Explorations  in  Eastern  Africa — Dr.  Krapf  s 
Missionary  Labors  And  Travels — Burton  and  Speke's  Expedition  1857 
— Discovery  of  Lake  Victoria  N'yanza— Speke's  and  Grant's  Expedition 
I860 — Meeting  with  Mr.  Baker  at  Gondokoro — Journies  of  Sir  Samuel 
Baker  and  Wife  on  the  Blue  and  White  Nile — David  Livingstone  and 
Henry  M.  Stanley 91 

CHAPTER  V. 

LIFE  AND  TRAVELS  OF  DAVID  LIVINGSTONE.  (EARLY  LIFE). 

Birth-place — Ancestors— Dr.  Livingstone's  Youth — At  work  in  a  Factory 
— Taste  for  Study — Desire  to  Travel — Prepares  for  a  Missionary  Life 
— Embarks  for  Africa 1 28 

CHAPTER  VI. 

LIVINGSTONE'S  VISIT  TO  THE  BACKWAIN  COUNTRY. 

Arrival  at  Kuruman — Dr.  Moffatt — Meets  His  Future  Wife — Into  the  Interior 
— The  Backwain  Chief  Sechele — Sechele  becmes  a  Convert  and  is  Bap- 
tized—   .- 131 

CHAPTER  VII. 

LIVINGSTONE  AT  KOLOBENG. 

Settles  Among  The  Natives— Another  Exploit— A  Journey  On  Ox-Back 
— Narrow  Escape  From  A  Lion — Terrible  Drought  — Rain  Makers 
— The  Boers — Missionary  Life 138 

CHAPTER  Vni. 

DISCOVERY  OF  LAKE  NGAMI. 

The  Bushman  Country — Expedition  with  Messrs.  Oswell  and  Murray — Across 
the  Kalahari  Desert — Digging  for  Water — A  Hyena  Panic — A  Bush- 
woman — Mirage  —  The  Bakobas — Discovery  of  Lake  Ngami — Unex- 
pected Obstacles — Death  of  a  Native  Chief — The  Zambesi  in  Central 
Africa — An  Explanation  with  Why's  and  Wherefore's 15» 

CHAPTER  IX. 

JOURNEY  FROM  CAPE  TOWN  TO  LINYANTI. 

Schele's  Childen— The  Lion  as  He  is— Hunting  Ostriches— Ceremony  with 
the  Boys — The  Girls  Ordeal — Rhinoceros — Elephants — A  Bushman's 
Test — The  Makololo 166 


CONTENTS.  XJ 

CHAPTER  X. 

LIFE  IN  THE  MAKALOLO  CAPITAL. 

The  Court  Herald — Sekeletu  The  King — Makololo  Ladies — Human  Nature 
the  Same  Every  Where — Bad  Intentions  Frustrated — A  Fancy-dress 
Parade — Makololo  Huts — An  excursion  with  Sekeletu — Hunting  Hippo- 
potamus— A  Nine  Week's  Tour — Trip  to  Loanda  decided  on 17Y 

CHAPTER  XI. 

FROM  LINYANTI  TO  SHINTE 

Up  the  Leeambye  — Alligator  Hunting — Captives  Return  to  their  Homes 
— A  Palaver  with  Mamoana — Female  Chiefs — Conquered  by  a  Woman 
— Manenko  on  the  March  —  The  Balondas — Reception  by  Shinte 
— African  Prisons — An  Exhibition — Abraham  alarms  the  Ladies  ....  190 

CHAPTER  XII. 

FROM  SHINTE  TO  CASSANGE 

Dress  of  the  Balonda's — A  Stomach  Complaint — Curious  Customs — Inter- 
view with  the  Great  Katema — Fugitive  sent  back — Traditions  of 
Lake  Dilolo — A  Beautiful  River — Tribute  of  an  old  Shirt  Paid — A 
Swim  for  Life — Trouble  with  the  Chiboque — A  Mutiny  Quelled — Trouble 
and  Mishaps — Way  to  save  Oxen— Hostile  Natives — African  Sophistry  209> 
CHAPTER  XIII. 

THROUGH  ANGOLA  TO  ST.  PAUL  DE  LOANDA. 

Among  the  Portuguese — Their  Curiosity — Who  they  Married — A  Black  Guide 
and  his  Slaves— High  Mountains  and  fertile  Valleys — The  Ox  Sinbad 

—First  view  of  the  Atlantic— St.  Paul  De  Loanda 22fl 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

ACROSS  THE  CONTINENT. 

The  return  journey — Pungo  Andongo — Angola — Recreations  of  the  Natives 
— Attacked  in  the  Forest — Old  Faces  and  old  Friends — Sekeletu  at 

Church — A  Love  Affair — Livingstone's  Observations 238 

CHAPTER  XV. 

ACROSS  THE  CONTINENT.  (LINYANTI  TO  TETE.) 

Memorable  Night  — The  Victoria  Falls — A  Native  Fanti — Botaka  Salu- 
tation— Hunting  Buffaloes  and  Elephants — Elephant  protecting  her 
young — Women's  mouths  like  a  Duck's — Caught  in  a  trap— A  Caffre 
War — Preparations  for  Battle — A  Parley — A  model  Husband  and 

Father — Rhinoceros  Hunting — The  Witch  Ordeal-Arrival  at  Tete 262 

CHAPTER  XVI. 

FROM  TETE  TO  THE  EAST  COAST. 

A  Jesuit  Mission — Down  the  Zambesi — Rivers  Mutu  and  Kilimane — On  the 

Coast — On  the  "Frolic" — Fate  of  an  Attendant — Once  more  in  England  278 
CHAPTER  XVII. 

SECOND  EXPEDITION  TO  AFRICA. 

Sixteen  Months  at  Home — Old  Ideas  of  Africa  pass  away — Object  of  another 
Expedition — The  "Ma  Robert" — Steaming  up  the  Zambesi — Discovery 
of  Lake  Shima — The  Menganja — Upper  Lip  Ornaments — Ideas  of 


XU  CONTENTS. 

Beauty — Hippopotamus  Trap— Discovery  of  Lake  Xyassa— The  Jlako- 
lolo  Tribe — Building  Houses — Cooking  Elephants  Feet — AVreck  of 
the  "Ma  Robert" — A  new  Steamer,  the  "Pioneer'1 — Arrival  of  Mrs. 
Livingstone — Death  of  Mrs.  Livingstone — The  Universities'  Missions 

—The  "Lady  of  the  Lake" — Return  to  the   Coast— England 289 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 
LIVINGSTONE'S  Tiiini)  EXPEDITION. 

At  Zanzibar — Up  the  Rovnmr, — Reported  Killed — Letter  from  Dr.  Seward 
— Moosa's  Story— English  Relief  Expedition — Mr.  Young  at  Lake 
Nyassa — The  grave  of  Mrs.  Livingstone — Return  of  the  Expedition 
— Letter  from  Dr.  Livingstone — Rumors  from  the  Interior — Lost  Dis- 
patches— Xo  News — Livingstone  Last 312 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

THE  HERALD  LIVINGSTONE  EXPEDITION. 

James  Gordon  Bennett — Henry  M.  Stanley — Call  to   Paris — Interview  with 

Bennett — Ordered  to  Start — At  Zanzibar C'23 

CHAPTER  XX. 

ZANZIBAR  AND  THE  MIUMA. 

Island     and   Town  of  Zanzibar — Terrific    Hurricane — The   Steamer   Slien- 

andoah — The     Mrima — Arrival     of     Caravans — Mode    of    Life 332 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

BURTON    AND    SPEKE's    JOURNEY  TO    U.TIJI. 

The  Caravan — Departure — Uproar  in  the  Van — A  Wild  Day — Murder  of  an 
Explorer — The   Wazaramo — The     Guard    Desert — They   Repent    and 
Return — An  Afternoon's  March — The  Usagara  Mountains — Ugogo — An 
Arab  Caravan — Black  Mail — The  Fiery  Field — Arrival  at  Unyanyembe  844: 
CHAPTER  XXII. 

BURTON  AND  SPEKE's  EXPEDITION.(CONTINUED). 

The  "\Vanyamwezi  Porters — On  the  march  again — Arrival  at  Ujiji — 
Tanganyika  Lake — Life  at  Ujiji — Discovery  cf  the  Victoria  X'yanza — 

Homeward  Bound — Arrival  at  Zanzibar 366 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 

STANLEY'S  JOURNEY  FROM  ZANZIBAR  TO  UNYANYEMBI-:. 

Distance  from  Zanzibar  to  Unyanyembe — Preparations  for  the  Trip — Buy- 
ing Beads  and  Cloth— Speke's  Faithfuls — Making  Saddles — Donkeys 
— Departure  from  Zanzibar — At  Bagamoyo — A  Young  Rascal — On  the 
March — Xaked  People — The  Wasungu — An  African  Sultana — Tribute 
Paid — The  Makata  Swamp— In  Distress — Tribes  Found  and  Rivers 
crossed— Ugogo  and  its  People— Heavy  Tribute— The  Irish  of  Africa 

— Arrival  atUuyanyembe — News  from  Livingstone 385 

CHAPTER  XXIV. 

THE  WAR  AT  UNYANYEMBE. 

The  Arabs  and  Mirambo — Cause  of  the  War — Stanley  joins  the  Arabs 
— Battle  with  Mirambo — An  Ambuscade — A  Panic  and  Retreat — Plun- 
der and  Burning  of  Tabora , .  409 


CONTEXTS.  Xlll 

CHAPTER  XXV. 

LIFE  AT  UNYANYEMBE. 

The  "Land  of  the  Moon" — Stanley— Fever— Stanley's  Quarters — The  Arabs 

— Shaw  and  his  Impending  Fate — 418 

CHAPTER  XXYI. 

PERPLEXITIES  AND  RESOLVES. 

Stanley  advised   to  go   back — Ignorance  in  High  Places — Arraignment  of 

Dr.  Kirk — The  Livingstone  Caravan — Summing   Up 432 

CHAPTER  XXVII. 

FROM  KWIHARA  TO  UVINZA. 

The  route  to  Ujiji — The   Start — Deserters — Punishments — Shaw  Sent  Back 
— The  Wilderness — Stanley  Astonishes    the  Natives — Pombe — Hunting 
Adventures — A  Mutiny — Almost  a  Tragedy — In  Chains — An  Ominous 
Sight — Attack    of  a    Leopard — Caravan   in  Distress — Paying  Tribute  444 
CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

FROM  CVIXZA  TO  UJIJI. 

Do,  Dare,  and  Endure — A  Crocodile  Dines  on  a  Donkey — Slight  to  a  King 
— Caravans  Homeward  Bound — On  the  Verge  of  Ruin — A  Night  March 
— A  Woman's  Freak — An  Alarm — Lake  Tanganyika — Ujiji — Dr.  Living- 
stone Found 472 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 

INTERCOURSE  WITH  LIVINGSTONE. 

Stanley's  Welcome  to  Ujiji--Livingstone  at  Homo — Talks  on  the  Verandah 

Livingstone's   Life  and   Religion 490 

CHAPTER  XXX. 

AN  EXCURSION  ON  LAKE  TANGANYIKA 

Dangers  of  the  Trip — Head  of  the  Lake — Mouth  of  the  Rusiza — Adventures 

and  Escapes — Return  to  Ujiji — Livingstone's  Coolness  in  Danger 505 

CHAPTER  XXXI. 
PR.  LIVINGSTONE'S  STORY. 

Up  the  Rovuma — The  Big  Brother — The  Arabs  Story — Homesick  Men— In 
Trouble— The  Queen's  Guard — Water  on  the  Brain — A  Discovery — Lake 
Lincoln — The  True  Nile — The  Old  Mystery  Unsolved — Among  the 
Manyemas — Perils  of  the  Road — Compelled  to  Return — Sick  and 

Worn  at  Ujiji 515 

CHAPTER  XXXII. 

THE  RETURN  TO  ZANZIBAR. 

Celebrating  Christmas  at  Ujiji — Homeward  Bound — Pictures  of  Travel — At 
Unyanyembe — News  from  Home — Farewell  to  Livingstone — Baga- 
moyo — The  English  Expedition — Stanley's  Reception— Stanley  leaves 

Zanzibar 533 

CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

THE  ENGLISH-LIVINGSTONE  RELIEF  EXPEDITION. 

Who  composed  it — Reception  by  the  Sultan  of  Zanzibar — Preparations  for 
the  Journey — Its  Death  Blow — Livingstone  Found  and  Relieved — Its 
Members  Demoralized — The  Expedition  Ended .  553 


Xiv  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XXXIV. 

DR.  LIVINGSTONE'S  LETTER  TO  MR.  BENNETT. 
Frank  Acknowledgements  of  Stanley's  Services — His  own  position  at  Ujiji — 

Thrilling  News — Slavery — Four  Fountains — Comments  of  the  Press. . . .  56$ 

CHAPTER  XXXV. 

ANOTHER  LETTER  TO  MR.  BENNETT. 

The  Slave  Trade  in  Eastern  Africa — Adventures  of  the  Explorers — 
Hardships — The  Queen  of  Cazembe — African  Beauties — A  Tragedy — 
Captives  Broken  Hearted — Among  the  Cannibals — Unknown  Lake — 
Treachery  and  Plunder — Abundance  of  Ivory — Scenes  in  the  Manyema 
Markets — Horrors  of  the  Slave  Trade 563 

CHAPTER  XXXVI. 

LIVINGSTONE'S  STORY. 
Letter  to  Lord  Clarendon — Sources  of  the  Nile — Mistakes  of  Speke  and 

Baker— Results  of  Four  Journeys 586 

CHAPTER  XXXVII. 

EXPERIENCES  WITH  THE  BANIANS. 

Banians  and  Arabs — Swindled — Livingstone's  Goods  Sold — He  Slandered — 
Terrible  Scenes — Tramp  to  Ujiji — Manyema  Revenge — Three  Narrow 
Escapes 59$ 

CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 

STANLEY    IN    FRANCE. 

At  Marseilles — Lion  of  the  Day — Kalulu  in  Paris — Breakfast  with  Minister 

Washburn — General  Sherman — Grand  Banquet — Speeches  and  Toasts.   607 

CHAPTER  XXXIX. 

STANLEY  IN  ENGLAND. 

Doubts  and  Suspicions —  Snuff  Box  from  the  Queen — At  Brighton — Stanley's 
Speech — Stay  at  Home  Travelers — Discussion  with  the  Geographers — 
An  Unpleasant  Occurrence — Reception — Mark  Twain  on  Stanley 618 

CHAPTER  XL. 

STANLEY  IN  SCOTLAND. 

Geographers  Reviewed  at  Glasgow — Citizenship   Conferred  on  Stanley — 

Speech  at  Hamilton — Banquet— At  Edinburgh 643 

CHAPTER  XLI. 

STANLEY  AT  HOME. 

Arrival  at  New  York — Kalulu  Interviewed — Reception  by  the  Lotos  Club — 
Speeches  of  Distinguished  Men — 'Visit  from  Dr.  Livingstone's  Brother — 
In  Mourning  for  the  Doctor — Reception  by  the  Geographical  Society — 
Letter  from  Livingstone  to  Mr.  Stearns — Contract  to  Lecture — Success 
ta  a  Lecturer. .,  654 


CONTENTS.  XV. 

CHAPTER  XLII. 

BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  STANLEY. 

Who  is  he  ? — His  Age — Where  was  he  born  ? — The  Matter  Fully  Discussed — 
Claims  and  Counter  Claims — His  Life — What  a  Mr.  Noe  Claims  to 
Know — Letters  from  Stanley — The  Point  Still  Unsettled — Mark  Twain's 

Hotten-tot  Appears  Again ; 679 

CHAPTER  XLIII. 
SPEKE  AND  GRANT'S  EXPEDITION. 

Departure  from  Zanzibar — At  Kaze — At  Ukulima's  Village — Dance  with  the 
Queen — Disasters — Uzinza — Retreat  to  Kaze — Once  Again — A  Lost 
Bride — At  Karague — A  Noble  King — On  to  Uganda — Victoria  N'yanza — 
King  Mtesa — Flirtations  with  the  Queen — The  Harem  Filled  and 
Depleted — The  Queen's  Court — The  Nile  at  Last — Kamrasi  the  "  Father 
of  Kings" — A  Royal  Beggar— Down  the  Nile — Among  the  Gani — 

At  Gondokoro — Twenty-Eight  Months  Among  the  Savages 683 

CHAPTER  XLIV. 
BAKER'S  EXPLORATIONS. 

Up  the  Nile — The  Desert  Journey — Hunting  Adventures  in  the  Abyssinian 
Mountains— Chased  by  a  Rhinoceros — The  Sword  Hunters — Mutiny 
Quelled — The  Lion  at  Close  Quarters — At  Khartoum  and  Gondokoro 
— A  Belligerent  Caravan — At  Latooka — Detained  at  Obbo — Arrival  at 
Unyoro — A  Modest  Demand — Discovery  of  Lake  Albert — Homeward 
Bound — The  Egyptian  Expedition  led  by  Pasha  Baker — Disastrous 
Results — Dissatisfaction  of  the  Viceroy — Latest  News  of  the  Ex- 
pedition   700 

CHAPTER  XLV. 

NATAL  AND  THE  KAFFIRS. 

Location  of  the  Colony — Size — Harbor — Products — Durban — Commerce — 
Capital — Governor's  Wife — Bishop  Colenso — Missionaries — The  Zulus 
— Houses — Women — Mode  of  Life — Marriage  Customs — Salutations 
— Dress  and  Ornaments — Witchcraft — Mania  for  Wives — Missionary 

Labors — A  Native  Pastor — A  Missionary's  Testimony 720 

CHAPTER  XLVI. 

THE  SOUTH  AFRICAN  DIAMOND  FIELDS. 

Where  Located— The  Orange  and  Vaal  Rivers— Climate — The  Orange  River 
Free  State — The  Transvaal  Republic — Their  Capitals — Surrounding 
Tribes — Routes  to  the  Diamond  Fields — Cape  Town — Port  Elizabeth 
— Port  Natal — Discovery  of  Diamonds — Rare  Specimens — Government 
of  the  Mines — Pnicl  the  Great  Centre— Gold  Lands  of  the  Limpopo. .  755 
CHAPTER  XL VII. 

EAST  AFRICAN  SLAVE  TRADE. 

The  Zanzibar  Slave  Market — Shipment  of  Negroes— Treaty  between  Muscat 
and  other  Countries,  allowing  It — Features  of  the  Arab  Slave  Trade 
— Contented  Slaves — Dr.  Livingstone's  Dispatches — His  plans  for  Stop- 
ping the  Slave  Trade — The  Plea  of  the  Sultan — Sir  Bartle  Frere — His 
History— Full  Powers  to  Act 764 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAGE. 

1  THE  FINDTXG  OF  DTI.  LIVINGSTONE (Frontispiece) 

2  TBAVELEUS  AND  THE  MIRAGE 26 

3  HEAD  OF  BLACK  RHINOCEROS 30 

4  NATIVES  ATTACKING-  ELEPHANTS SO 

5  WASHING  DAY 35 

fi  THE  BATTLE  FIELD 35 

7  KA^TKUN  BANQUET 40 

8  THEODORE  AND  TIIE  LIONS 43 

'»  ABY SSIN i AN  FACES 43 

10  BUFF ALO  H UNTING 50 

1 1  SHOOA  WOMEN 50 

12  K  RUM  EN  AND  THEIR  CANOES 53 

13  FISHING  SCENE ; So 

It  THE  BELL  COMES 62 

15  AMAZON-  REVIEW 62 

16  THE  BASKET  SACRIFICE 67 

17  THE  ALAK E'S  Cou RT 72 

18  THE  CEKEMOSY  OF  TWINS r. 77 

J9  OVAMIIO  GIRLS  S3 

20  DAMARA  WARRIOR  AND  WIFE 83 

21  A  HOTTENTOT  KRAAL 83 

•22  RIVER  NAVIGATION > 91 

fe  OLENDA'S  SALUTATION 93 

21  A  SHI  R  A  FAREWELL 99 

25  GOR I LL A  H UNT 103 

?)   D  ANCE  Tu  THE  MOON K 7 

27  CHU  IJNINO  RA  is 113 

28  BRINGING  THE  BABOON 113 

29  Ox  AND  HAMMOCK 1!S 

30  REV.  ROBERT  MOPFATT  [L.  L.  D] KD 

31  EVIDENTLY  IN  DANGER 14; 

jfc!  THE  HOPO  AND  PIT 149 

S3  TEMPORARY  CAMP 171) 

81  OSTRICH  HUNTING 170 

35  NATIVE  HOUSES '. 185 

36  SPEARING  THE  HIPPOPOTAMUS 185 

•37  HARPOONING  THE  ALLIGATOR 193 

38  M ANENKO  IN  COMMAND 199 

39  RECEPTION  B v  SHINTE 204 

40  ST.  PAUL  DB  LOANDA 284 

41  BAKOTA  SALUTATION 239 

42  LIVINGSTONE'S  BOATMEN 259 

43  ELEPHANT  PROTECTING  HER  YOUNG 263 

44  THE  UIIINOCEROS  AT  BAY 272 

45  HOUSE  BUILDING  ABOVE  VICTORIA  FALLS 299 

46  HIPPOPOTAMUS  TR AP,. 299 

47  PORTRAIT  OF  DK.  DAVID  LIVINGSTONE 313 

43  PORTRAIT  OF  JAMES  GORDON  BENNETT S27 

J9  EFFECTS  OF  A  HURRICANE 334 

60   TOWN  ON  THEMRIMA 339 

fil  Ox  TIIE  MAECH 250 


ILLUSTRATIONS.  XVH 

52  TEMBB  ATKAZB 383 

53  EASTERN  UN YANYBMBE 363 

51  CAMP  IN  UGOGO 303 

55  A  WANYAMWEZI  WELCOME ...  368 

56  HARVEST  SCENE 373 

57  A  WEEZEE  TEMBK . .  373 

58  THB  SULTAN  or  ZANZIBAR  AND  GRAND  VIZIER 391 

59  STANLEY  AS  AN  EXPLORES 401 

60  VIEW  IN  THE  "  LAND  OF  THE  MOON  " 420 

61  STANLEY,  His  BOY  KALULU  AND  INTERPRETER  SALIM 426 

62  GIRAFFE  PITS 4-!0 

63  BUFFALO  HUNTING : 455 

64  AMONG  THE  MOUNTAINS 466 

65  IN  THE  VALLEY 4G6 

66  RETURN  OF  A  WAR  PARTY 478 

67  THE  MEETING  OF  LIVINGSTONE  AND  STANLEY  AT  UJLJI 4S8 

68  DR.  LIVINGSTONE'S  HOUSE  AT  Ujui 493 

69  DR.  LIVINGSTONE  AS  AN  EXPLORER 499 

70  LIVINGSTONE  AND  STANLEY  NAVIGATING  LAKE  TANGANYIKA ...  5^8 

71  STANLEY  RETURNING  TO  THE  COAST 539 

72  LIVINGSTONE  AND  STANLEY  RECEIVE  NEWSPAPERS  AT  UNYANYEMBB 544 

73  STANLEY'S  RETURN  TO  BAGAMOYO 548 

74  VIEW  OF  BRITISH  CONSULATE,  ZANZIBAR 552 

75  PRIVATE  RECEPTION  OF  THE  LIVINGSTONE  EXPEDITION  AT  THE  SULTAN'S  PALACE 555 

76  DRILLING  NASIK  BOYS  AT  ZANZIBAR 561 

77  LIP  AND  NOSE  ORNAMENTS 571 

78  LIFE  ON  THE  LAKE  SHORE 571 

79  RECEPTION  BY  LOTUS  CLUB,  NEW  TORK ., 659 

80  PORTRAIT  OF  HENRY  M.  STANLEY 671 

81  GRANT  DANCING  WITH  THE  QUEEN 685 

82  RUMANIKA'S  PRIVATE  BAND  690 

83  THE  ARBEST  OF  THE  QUEEN 694 

84  AT  THE  COURT  OF  THE  QUEEN 697 

85  THE  DESERT  JOURNEY 701 

86  CLOSE  QUARTERS  WITH  THE  LION 706 

87  GAME  RETURNING  FROM  THE  RIVER 7C9 

88  ATTACK  or  THE  RHINOCEROS 709 

89  RHINOCEROS  HUNT 713 

90  DURBAN,  FROM  THE  BOTANICAL  GARDENS 723 

91  KAFFIRS  AT  HOME 733 

92  PROCESSION  OF  THE  BRIDE 737 

93  MISSIONARY  STATION , . . .    744 

94  TABLE  MOUNTAIN  AND  KRAAL 744 

9R  PORTRAITS  OF  BISHOP  COLENZO,  REV.  JAMES  DEUE,  AND  NATIVE  KAFFIRS 730 

96  AFRICAN  DIAMOND  FIELDS 754' 

97  LEAVING  PORT  NATAL 757 

98  ON  THE  ROAD 757 

99  SCENE  IN  TUB  DIAMOND  FIELDS .  761 

100  SLAVE  MARKET  AT  ZANZIBAR 7C7 

101  PORTRAIT  or  SIB  BARTLB  FBEBX 776 


MAPS   AND   AUTOGRAPH   LETTERS. 

MAP  OF  AFRICA,  WITH  LOCATION  or  TRIBES 18 

MAP  OF  EXPLORER'S  ROUTES 887 

MAP  OF  NATAL  COLONY  AND  SURROUNDINGS 727 

AUTOGRAPH  LETTER  OF  DR.  LIVINGSTON* 549 

AUTOGRAPH  LETTER  OF  STANLEY 679 

MAP  or  THB  Siut  COUJTTBY ...  682 


.      CHAPTER  I. 
THE  CONTINENT  OF  AFKICA. 

A  FRIG  A,,  or  as  much  of  it  as  the  ancients  were  acquainted 
with,  formed  a  third  part  of  the  then  known  world,  and 
constituted  an  important  division  thereof.  It  was  called  Lib- 
ya, and  was  inhabited  by  several  different  nations,  some  of 
which,  at  a  very  early  period,  had  made  great  advancement 
in  the  liberal  arts.  Bordering  on  the  Mediterranean  and  Red 
Seas,  they  enjoyed  an  extensive  commerce,  and  grew  rich  and 
powerful.  Egypt,  one  of  the  oldest  nations  of  the  world, 
became  famous,  and  Carthage,  the  rival  of  Rome,  sent  forth 
her  fleets  to  every  part  of  the  known  world. 

But  for  the  Isthmus  of  Suez,  which  connects  Egypt,  with 
Arabia,  Africa  would  be  an  Island.  A  ship-canal  across 
this  Isthmus,  connecting  the  waters  of  the  Mediterranean  and 
Red  Seas,  has  been  lately  completed  by  the  French  at  a  cost 
of  $100,000,000.  It  is  said  that  the  Pharaohs  made  an 
attempt  to  build  such  a  canal,  and,  according  to  Herodotus, 
120,000  men  perished  upon  the  work  before  it  was  abandoned. 

Over  this  Isthmus,  before  the  new  route  to  the  Indies  via. 
Cape  Horn  was  discovered,  passed  much  of  the  commerce  of 
the  ancient  world.  Indian  products  were  brought  in  the 
junks  of  China  and  Hindostan  to  Aden,  on  the  Arabian  coast. 
There  the  western  merchants,  reloading  them  into  their  own 
ships,  conveyed  them  up  the  Red  Sea  to  Suez.  Thence,  they 
passed  through  a  canal  to  the  city  of  Alexandria.  This 


20  THE  CONTINENT  OF  AFRICA. 

Alexandrian  canal,  like  that  of  the  Pharaohs,  is  now  choked 
up  with  sand  and  rubbish — a  ruin  as  complete  as  that  of  the 
great  city  itself. 

The  great  feature  of  Northern  Africa  is  the  Sahara  or 
Great  Desert,  the  most  barren,  parched,  and  terrific  waste  in 
the  world. 

The  highest  mountains  of  Africa  are  along  the  coast.  The 
Atlas,  in  Morocco,  is  thirteen  thousand  feet  high.  On  the 
eastern  coast,  a  little  north  of  Zanzibar,  are  peaks  twenty 
thousand  feet  high,  and  covered  with  perpetual  snow.  There 
are  several  large  lakes  in  the  interior,  some  of  which  are  very 
shallow. 

For  so  vast  a  country,  Africa  has  very  few  rivers,  and  most 
of  them  are  unnavigable.  The  largest  are  the  Nile,  the 
Niger,  the  Senegal,  the  Gambia,  the  Congo,  the  Orange, 
which  is  the  northern  boundary  of  the  Cape  Colony,  and  the 
Zambesi  on  the  south  eastern  coast.  The  Niger  is  navigable 
for  six  hundred  miles. 

The  river  Nile  has  been  explored  southerly,  through  thirty 
degrees  of  latitude ;  and  if  the  streams  running  northerly, 
which  Dr.  Livingstone  has  lately  discovered,  and  explored  in 
part,  prove  to  be,  as  he  believes,  identical  with  that  river, 
then  the  Nile  extends  southerly  forty  or  more  degrees  of  lat- 
itude. 

The  river  Atbara  is  the  last  tributary  of  the  Nile,  and  joins 
it  about  eleven  hundred  miles  from  its  mouth.  Thence,  the 
noble  flood,  fed  by  never  failing  supplies,  rolls  steadily  on, 
through  arid  sands  and  burning  deserts.  The  great  problem 
of  the  Nile  has  ever  been,  to  find  the  sources  of  these  sup- 
plies. 

In  consequence  of  the  unhealthy  and  sometimes  pestilen- 
tial climate  of  the  flat  coasts,  the  difficulties  of  ascending  the 
rivers,  the  wild  animals  which  roam  over  the  country  in  vast 
numbers,  and  the  uncivilized  races  who  inhabit  a  large  portion 
of  it,  until  recently  but  little  has  been  really  known  of  Africa ; 
and  what  geographers  have  said  of  it,  especially  of  the  inte- 
rior, has  been  little  more  reliable  than  guess-work. 


AKEA— CLIMATE— POPULATION.  21 

The  mineral  wealth  of  Africa  is  as  imperfectly  known  as 
its  geography.  Gold  dust  is  found  in  the  sands  of  many  of 
its  streams ;  copper  and  iron  are  sometimes  met  with ;  and 
salt  is  widely  diffused.  The  recently  discovered  African  dia- 
mond-fields lie  near  Natal,  in  the  Kaffir  country  on  the  south 
eastern  coast. 

Africa  has  an  area  of  nearly  12,000,000  square  miles,  and 
its  population  has  been  roughly  estimated  at  60,000,000. 
Its  original  inhabitants  are  supposed  to  have  been  the  descend- 
ants of  Ham.  Lying  almost  wholly  in  the  Torrid  Zone  it  is 
subject  to  great  heat,  and  the  climate^  especially  on  the  sea 
coast,  is  very  unhealthy  for  white  people.  Some  portions  of 
the  interior,  however,  are  healthy  and  salubrious.  The 
uplands  of  the  Kalahari  desert,  in  Southern  Africa,  have  a 
climate  of  this  character.  The  greatest  heat  is  north  of  the 
equator,  as  the  southern  portions  are  more  elevated.  In  the 
Sahara  there  is  great  intensity  of  radiation,  so  that  very  hot 
days  are  followed  by  very  cold  nights.  Africa  is  said  to  be 
the  hottest  of  the  continents. 

It  is  a  common  error  to  look  upon  all  the  dark  races  of 
Africa  as  negroes.  On  the  contrary,  the  area  of  territory  occu- 
pied by  men  of  the  true  negro  type,  black  skin,  thick  lips, 
depressed  noses,  and  woolly  hair,  is  comparatively  small,  and 
lies  mostly  on,  or  near,  some  portions  of  the  western  coast. 
Generally,  the  African  negro  is  inferior  in  mind  to  the  other 
African  races,  though  some  of  them,  Jibe  the  Bushmen,  are 
more  degraded.  Still,  the  negroes  have  a  good  deal  of  inge- 
nuity, and  in  some  parts  of  Africa  have  attained  to  consider- 
able knowledge  in  agriculture  and  manufactures.  Those 
who  have  embraced  the  religion  of  Mohammed  are  much  ele- 
vated above  those  who  remain  pagans. 

The  other  races  differ  widely,  some  approaching  nearly  to 
the  negro,  and  some  to  the  Arabian  type.  Many  pure  Arabs 
are  found  scattered  over  Africa,  especially  in  the  northern 
parts.  Considerable  numbers  live  in  Eastern  Africa,  some 
acting  as  merchants.  The  Turks  are  found  mostly  in  North, 
Africa  and  Egypt. 


22  AGRICULTURAL  RESOURCES. 

The  surface  of  the  Continent  of  Africa  has  been  likened  to 
a  dish  turned  upside  down,  having  a  high  and  flat  central 
plateau  with  a  higher  rim  of  hills  surrounding  it,  outside  of 
which  is  an  abrupt  slope  to  a  flat  strip  of  land  bordering  on 
the  sea.  There  are,  however,  exceptions  to  this  general  f orm, 
for  in  some  portions  of  the  interior  are  high  hills,  deep 
depressions,  and  lakes  from  which  rivers  find  their  way  to 
the  sea ;  and,  instead  of  a  rim  at  the  northern  end,  the  ground 
slopes  gradually  down  from  the  equator  to  the  Mediterranean 
Sea. 

The  agricultural  resources  of  Africa  are  rich  and  varied. 
Cotton,  tobacco,  indigo,  sugar-cane,  and  tropical  fruits  and  veg- 
etables grow  in  many  portions  of  it  luxuriantly ;  and  rice, 
manioc,  Indian  corn,  and  other  grains  are  cultivated  success- 
fully. Extensive  coffee  plantations  are  found  on  the  West 
Coast. 

The  principal  exports  of  Africa  are  ivory,  palm-oil,  cam- 
wood, cardimon  seed,  India-rubber,  bees-wax,  precious  metals, 
and  slaves.  The  slave  trade  on  the  West  Coast  has  been  sup- 
pressed, and  an  effort  is  about  being  made  to  put  an  end  to 
it  on  the  East  Coast.  Beads,  cotton  fabrics,  and  brass  wire 
are  staple  imports. 

In  some  portions  of  uncivilized  Africa,  a  historical  thread 
guides  through  a  labyrinth  of  ancient  tribes  and  overthrown 
kingdoms,  relics  of  which  in  the  form  of  splendid  ruins — the 
hoary  remnants  of  past  splendor — meet  the  eye.  Other  por- 
tions lack  antiquarian  and  historic  interest,  having  few  tradi- 
tions, no  annals,  no  ruins,  and  no  traces  of  works  of  useful- 
ness or  ornament 


CHAPTER  II. 
AFEICA  AND  ITS  INHABITANTS. 

LYING  along  the  south  shore  of  the  Mediterranean  are  the 
Barbary  States — Tripoli,  Tunis,  Algeria  and  Morocco, 
extending  westerly  from  Egypt  to  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  The 
population  are  Moors,  Jews,  Turks,  and  Arabs,  with  many 
negroes  and  mixed  races. 

South  of  the  Barbary  States  lies  the  Great  Desert  of  Saha- 
ra, having  an  average  breadth  from  north  to  south  of  one 
thousand  miles,  and  a  length  of  over  two  thousand  miles. 
A  portion  of  this  desert  consists  of  high  table  lands,  some- 
times rising  into  mountains ;  but  for  the  most  part  it  is  a 
desolate,  dreary,  burning  plain  of  shifting  sand  and  stones. 

There  are  however  many  oases,  where  water  and  vegetation 
are  found,  some  of  which  are  of  large  extent.  Considerable 
cities  are  found  in  these  oases,  and  there  is  a  good  deal  of 
commerce  carried  on  between  them,  camels  being  the  ships 
of  the  desert.  In  the  Oasis  of  Ghat,  a  fair  is  annually  held 
which  is  attended  sometimes  by  caravans  to  the  number  of 
30,000  camels. 

Fearful  sand-storms  sometimes  occur  on  these  deserts, 
when  the  dry  loose  sand  is  carried  upward  and  onward  by 
the  wind,  filling  the  air  like  a  terrific  thunder-cloud,  and  in 
such  quantities  that  sometimes  whole  caravans  have  been 
buried  in  its  drifts.  "When  seen  approaching,  experienced 
travelers  fall  flat  on  their  faces,  and  camels  instinctively  put 
their  noses  to  the  ground  to  prevent  suffocation. 

The  mirage  is  a  curious  phenomena  of  the  desert,  and  has 

23 


24:  THE  GOBLIX  OF  THE  DESERT. 

been  frequently  described.  Water  is  a  favorite  subject  of 
the  mirage,  and  the  traveler,  as  he  passes  over  the  burning 
plain,  sees  before  him  a  rolling  river  or  a  vast  lake,  the  palm 
trees  waving  on  its  edge  and  reflected  on  its  surface,  and  the 
little  wavelets  rippling  along  as  driven  by  the  wind.  Beasts 
as  well  as  men  see  it,  and  it  is  very  difficult  to  restrain  th.e 
thirsty  camels  from  rushing  to  the  seeming  waters. 

A  vivid  account  of  the  phenomena  is  given  in  St.  John's 
"Egypt  and  Nubia  "  :— 

"  I  had  been  riding  along  in  a  reverie,  when,  chancing  to 
raise  niy  head,  I  thought  I  perceived,  desertwards,  a  dark 
strip  on  the  far  horizon.  What  could  it  be  ?  My  companion, 
who  had  very  keen  sight,  was  riding  in  advance  of  me,  and, 
with  a  sudden  exclamation,  he  pulled  up  his  dromedary  and 
gazed  in  the  same  direction.  I  called  to  him,  and  asked  him 
what  he  thought  of  yonder  strip,  and  whether  he  could  make 
out  anything  in  it  distinctly.  He  answered  that  water  had 
all  at  once  appeared  there;  that  he  saw  the  motion  of  the 
waves,  and  tall  palms  and  other  trees  bending  up  and 
down  over  them,  as  if  tossed  by  a  strong  wind.  An  Arab 
was  at  my  side,  with  his  face  muffled  up  in  his  burnous ;  I 
roused  his  attention,  and  pointed  to  the  object  of  our 
inquiry.  l  Mashallah ! '  cried  the  old  man,  with  a  face  as  if 
he  had  seen  a  ghost,  and  stared  with  all  his  might  across  the 
desert. 

All  the  other  Arabs  of  the  party  evinced  no  less  emotion ; 
and  our  interpreter  called  out  to  us,  that  what  we  saw  was  the 
evil  spirit  of  the  desert,  that  led  travelers  astray,  luring  them 
farther  and  farther  into  the  heart  of  the  waste,  ever  retreat- 
ing before  them  as  they  pursued  it,  and  not  finally  disappear- 
ing till  its  deluded  victims  had  irrecoverably  lost  themselves 
in  the  pathless  sands.  This,  then,  was  the  mirage. 

The  phenomenon  really  deserves  the  name  the  Arabs 
give  it,  of  Goblin  of  the  Desert :  an  evil  spirit  that  beguiles 
the  wanderer  from  the  safe  path,  and  mocks  him  with  a  false 
show  of  what  his  heated  brain  paints  in  glowing  colors. 
Whence  comes  it  that  this  illusion  at  first  fills  with  uneasi- 


THE  TIBBOOS  AND  TUARICKS.  27 

ness — I  might  even  say  -with  dismay — those  even  who  ascribe 
its  existence  to  natural  causes  ?  On  a  spot  where  the  bare 
sands  spread  out  for  hundreds  of  miles,  where  there  is  neither 
tree  nor  shrub,  nor  a  trace  of  water,  there  suddenly  appeared 
before  us  groups  of  tall  trees,  proudly  girdling  the  running 
stream,  on  whose  waves  we  saw  the  sunbeams  dancing.  Hills 
clad  in  pleasant  green  rose  before  us  and  vanished ;  small 
houses,  and  towns  with  high  walls  and  ramparts,  were  visible 
among  the  trees,  whose  tall  boles  swayed  to  and  fro  in  the 
wind  like  reeds. 

Far  as  we  rode  in  the  direction  of  the  apparition,  we  never 
came  any  nearer  to  it ;  the  whole  seemed  to  recoil  step  by 
step  with  our  advance.  We  halted,  and  remained  long  in 
contemplation  of  the  magic  scene,  until  whatever  was 
unpleasant  in  its  strangeness  ceased  by  degrees  to  affect  us. 
Never  had  I  seen  any  landscape  so  vivid  as  this  seeming  one, 
never  water  so  bright,  or  trees  so  softly  green,  so  tall  and 
stately.  Everything  seemed  far  more  charming  there  than 
in  the  real  world  ;  and  so  strongly  did  we  feel  this  attraction 
that,  although  we  were  not  driven  by  thirst  to  seek  for  water 
where  water  there  was  none,  still  we  would  willingly  have 
followed  on  and  on  after  the  phantom ;  and  thus  we  could 
well  perceive  how  the  despairing  wanderer,  who  with  burn- 
ing eyes  thinks  he  gazes  on  water  and  human  dwellings,  will 
struggle  onward  to  his  last  gasp  to  reach  them,  until  his  fear- 
ful, lonely  doom  befalls  him." 

The  Great  Desert  is  possessed  by  three  or  more  different 
nations.  On  the  west  are  Moors  and  Arabs,  living  in  tents. 
In  the  middle  are  the  Tuaricks,  a  community  of  thieves,  who 
never  work  themselves,  but  live  by  plundering  those  who  do. 
They  also  live  in  tents.  On  the  east  are  the  Tibboos,  an  agri- 
cultural race,  who  live  in  villages  which  they  place  on  the  tops 
of  steep  rocks  to  defend  themselves  from  their  enemies,  the 
Tuaricks,  who  make  raids  upon  them,  steal  their  cattle  and 
property,  and  carry  them  off  to  be  sold  as  slaves.  The  Moors 
and  Tuaricks  are  Mohammedans ;  the  Tibboos  are  Pagans. 

The  roving  Bedouins  are  the  typical  Arabs.   True  Ishmael- 


28  THE  BEDOUINS— ARAB  MAIDS. 

ites  of  the  desert,  their  hand  is  against  every  man,  and  every 
man's  hand  against  them.  They  build  no  houses,  they  culti- 
vate no  lands,  they  conduct  no  merchandise  ;  but  are  nomad 
and  predatory,  trusting  chiefly  for  their  living  to  the  milk  of 
their  camels,  and  looking  upon  their  horses  and  dromedaries 
as  means  whereby  they  can  plunder  with  greater  security. 

The  Bedouin  does  not  fight  for  his  home,  he  has  none ;  nor 
for  his  country,  that  is  anywhere ;  nor  for  his  honor,  he  has 
never  heard  of  it ;  nor  for  his  religion,  he  owns  and  cares  for 
none.  His  only  object  in  war  is  the  temporary  occupation 
of  some  bit  of  miserable  pasture-land,  or  the  use  of  a  brackish 
well ;  perhaps  the  desire  to  get  such  a  one's  horse  or  camel 
into  his  own  possession. 

In  person  the  Bedouins  are  fine  specimens  of  the  human 
race.  They  are  tall,  stately,  with  well-cut  features,  and  have 
feet  and  hands  that  are  proverbial  for  their  beauty.  Bred 
entirely  in  the  open  air,  the  only  shelter  being  the  tattered 
sackcloth  of  the  tent,  the  true  Bedouin  can  endure  no  other 
life.  He  is  as  miserable  within  the  walls  of  a  town  as  a  wolf 
in  a  trap.  His  eyes,  accustomed  to  range  over  the  vast 
expanse  of  desert,  are  affronted  by  the  walls  over  which  he 
cannot  see.  The  streets  oppress  him  and  within  the  atmosphere 
of  a  room  he  can  scarcely  breathe.  Both  he  and  his  camel 
are  equally  out  of  their  element  when  among  civilized  people, 
and  they  are  ever  looking  forward  to  the  happy  moment 
when  they  may  again  breathe  the  free  air  of  the  desert. 

It  is  popularly  thought  that  Arab  manners  are  like  those 
of  the  Turk, — grave,  polite,  and  majestic.  The  fact  is  far 
different.  Though,  like  the  American  Indian,  the  Arab  has 
a  proud  and  stately  walk,  and  knows  well  enough  how  to 
assume  a  regally  indifferent  demeanor  on  occasion,  he  is  by 
nature  lively  and  talkative,  not  caring  very  much  what  he 
talks  about ;  and  fond  of  singing  Arab  songs  in  that  curious 
mixture  of  high  screaming  falsetto  and  guttural  intonation 
which  he  is  pleased  to  consider  vocal  music. 

Then,  the  "  Arab  maids,"  who  look  so  picturesque — in  a 
painting — are  not  quite  so  pleasant  in  reality.  Even  in  youth 


THE  HAMRAN  SWORD-HUNTERS.  3^ 

the  Bedouin  girls  are  not  so  handsome  as  is  generally  thought. 
They  are  tall,  well  made,  and  graceful,  but  are  deficient  in 
that  gentleness  and  softness  which  we  naturally  associate 
with  the  feminine  nature.  They  are  fond  of  tattooing  them- 
selves, and  cover  their  arms  and  chins  with  blue  patterns, 
such  as  stars  or  arabesque  figures.  Some  of  them  extend  the 
tattoo  over  the  breast  nearly  as  low  as  the  waist.  The  corners 
of  the  eyes  are  sometimes  decorated  with  this  cheap  and  inde- 
structible ornament.  Unlike  the  more  civilized  Mohammedans, 
they  care  little  about  veiling  their  faces,  and,  in  fact,  pass  a 
life  nearly  as  free  as  that  of  the  men. 

Another  tribe  of  Arabs,  known  as  the  Hamrans,  are  cele- 
brated for  their  skill  as  hunters.  They  permit  their  hair  to 
grow  to  a  great  length,  part  it  down  the  middle,  and  carefully 
train  it  into  long  curls. 

The  sword  is  the  chief  friend  of  the  Hamran  Arab's  life, 
and  he  looks  upon  it  with  a  sort  of  chivalric  respect.  He 
keeps  both  edges  literally  as  sharp  as  razors,  and  proves  the 
fact  by  shaving  with  it.  "When  he  is  traveling  and  comes  to 
a  halt,  the  first  thing  he  does  after  seating  himself,  is  to  draw 
his  sword  and  examine  both  edges  with  the  keenest  attention. 
He  then  sharpens  the  weapon  upon  his  leathern  shield,  and 
when  he  can  shave  the  hair  on  his  own  arm  with  both  edges, 
he  carefully  returns  the  blade  into  the  sheath. 

Armed  with  merely  the  sword,  these  mighty  hunters 
attack  all  kinds  of  game,  and  match  themselves  with  equal 
coolness  against  the  elephant,  the  rhinoceros,  the  giraffe,  the 
lion,  or  the  antelope.  Their  mode  of  procedure  is  almost 
invariably  the  same.  They  single  out  some  particular  ani- 
mal, and  contrive  to  cut  the  tendon  of  the  hind  leg  with  a 
blow  of  the  sword,  thus  rendering  the  unfortunate  beast 
helpless.  The  rhinoceros  gives  them  far  more  trouble  than 
the  elephant.  It  is  much  swifter,  more  active,  and  can  turn 
more  rapidly,  spinning  round  as  if  on  a  pivot,  and  baffling 
their  attempts  to  get  at  its  hind  legs. 

Easterly  of  the  great  desert  is  Nubia,  lying  on  both  sides 
of  the  Nile.  The  Nubians  are  very  proud  of  their  country, 


32  A  LAND  OF  ANCIENT  MYSTERY 

but  much  despised  by  the  Arabs.  In  spite  of  continual 
contact  with  civilization,  caused  by  their  location,  they  pre- 
serve their  ancient  style  of  dress  and  much  of  their  ancient 
manners.  A  lady  traveler  says : — 

"  Two  beautiful  young  Nubian  women  visited  me  in  my 
boat,  with  hair  in  the  little  plaits  finished  off  with  lumps  of 
yellow  clay,  burnished  like  golden  tags,  soft  deep  bronze 
skins,  and  lips  and  eyes  fit  for  Iris  and  Athor.  Their  very 
dress  and  ornaments  were  the  same  as  those  represented  in 
the  tombs,  and  I  felt  inclined  to  ask  them  how  many  thous- 
and years  old  they  were." 

Abyssinia,  lying  south  of  Nubia,  was  long  a  land  of  mystery, 
in  which  the  unicorn  and  the  lion  held  their  deadly  combats, 
in  which  dragons  flapped  their  scaly  wings  through  the  air, 
in  which  the  mountains  were  of  gold  and  the  river  beds 
paved  with  diamonds,  and,  greatest  marvel  of  all,  in  which 
Prester  John,  the  priest  and  king,  held  his  court — a  Chris- 
tian Solomon  of  the  middle  ages.  The  desire  to  reach  this 
great  monarch  by  water,  was  the  passion  of  the  Portuguese 
navigators. 

Among  the  many  mixtures  which  compose  the  Abyssin- 
ian nation,  the  natives,  reckon  a  considerable  Jewish  element. 
They  claim  that  the  Sheba  of  Scripture  was  Abyssinia,  and 
that  their  Queen  who  visited  Solomon,  had  a  son  of  whom 
he  was  the  father.  From  this  prince  all  the  successive  kings 
of  Abyssinia  claimed  to  be  descended. 

As  a  rule  the  Abyssinians  are  of  moderate  stature.  Their 
color  varies  from  a  coppery  brown  to  nearly  black,  but  in  no 
other  traits  do  they  resemble  negroes. 

The  women  of  the  higher  class  are  remarkable  for  their 
beauty,  not  only  of  feature  but  of  form,  and  possess  singularly 
small  and  pretty  hands  and  feet,  all  of  which  beauties  their 
!>tyle  of  dress  exhibits  freely.  Their  features  are  almost  of 
the  European  type,  and  the  eyes  are  exceedingly  large  and 
beautiful. 

The  illustration  exhibits  the  costume  of  an  Abyssinian 
lady,  and  shows  the  difference  in  dress  between  herself  and 


THE  ABYSSINIAN  CHURCH.  33 

her  servants.  The  latter — who,  of  course,  are  her  slaves,  no 
other  idea  of  servitude  entering  the  Abyssinian  mind — are 
washing  clothes  in  a  brook,  in  preparation  for  the  Feast  of 
St.  John,  the  only  day  in  the  year  when  the  Abyssinians 
trouble  themselves  to  wash  either  their  clothes  or  themselves. 
Other  slaves  are  carrying  water-jars  on  their  backs — not  on  their 
heads ;  and  in  the  foreground  stands  their  mistress  giving 
her  orders 

The  dress  of  the  men  is  very  peculiar,  consisting  in  part  of  a 
sash  or  belt  of  cotton  about  one  yard  wide,  and  from  fifteen 
to  fifty  yards  long,  the  length  depending  on  the  fineness  of 
the  fabric  and  the  wealth  of  the  wearer,  who  winds  himself 
in  it  by  turning  round  and  round,  while  a  friend  stands  by  to 
assist.  They  spend  a  vast  amount  of  time  in  dressing  and 
plaiting  their  hair ;  but  time  is  of  no  value  to  an  Abyssinian. 
At  night  they  rest  their  head  on  a  curved  support,  looking 
like  a  short  crutch,  instead  of  a  pillow,  so  as  not  to  disarrange 
their  hair. 

A  so-called  Christian  Church,  of  extreme  antiquity,  has 
existed  in  Abyssinia  to  the  present  day,  but  it  has  done 
scarcely  anything  to  civilize  the  people  as  we  understand  the 
word,  and  their  Christianity  consists  chiefly  in  fasting  and 
feasting,  so  that  an  Abyssinian  life  oscillates  between  alter- 
nate severe  fasts  and  inordinate  gluttony.  During  Good 
Friday  and  the  following  Saturday,  all  who  have  a"ny  preten- 
sion to  religion  fast  for  forty -eight  hours.  Altogether,  two 
hundred  and  sixty  days  of  fasting  occur  in  the  year. 

During  the  long  fasts,  such  as  that  of  Lent,  which  lasts  for 
fifty-five  days,  the  people  are  allowed  to  eat  on  the  mornings 
of  Saturday  and  Sunday,  but,  even  in  that  case,  meat  in  any 
form  is  strictly  forbidden. 

As  soon  as  the  lengthening  shadow  proclaims  the  end  of 
the  fast,  the  feasting  sets  in,  and  during  the  season  of 
Epiphany  the  whole  night  is  passed  in  a  succession  of  eating, 
drinking,  singing,  dancing,  and  praying,  each  being  consid- 
ered equally  a  religious  duty. 

St.  John's  Day  is  a  great  feast  among  the  Abyssinians, 


34  FEAST  OF  MASCAL— FII1E-WORSHIPERS. 

and  has  this  pre-eminence  over  the  others,  that  all  the  people 
not  only  wash  themselves,  but  their  clothes  also.  In  fact, 
they  consider  that  washing  the  body  is  a  heathenish  and 
un-Christian  practice,  only  to  be  tolerated  by  the  Mohamme- 
dans and  such  like  contemptible  beings. 

The  day  on  which  the  greatest  ceremonials  take  place  is 
the  feast  of  Mascal.  On  the  eve  of  Mascal  every  one  goes 
about  with  torches,  first  carrying  them  over  the  houses,  and 
peering  into  every  crevice  like  the  Jews  looking  for  leaven, 
and  then  sallying  into  the  air.  The  play  which  ensues 
mostly  turns  into  a  fight ;  the  boys  begin  at  first  to  abuse 
each  other,  and  then  to  fight.  Next,  a  man  sees  his  son  get- 
ting rather  roughly  handled,  drags  him  out  of  the  fray,  and 
pommels  his  antagonist.  The  father  of  the  latter  comes  to 
the  rescue  of  his  son,  the  friends  of  each  party  join  in  the 
struggle,  and  a  general  fight  takes  place.  Mostly,  these  con- 
tests are  harmless;  but,  if  the  combatants  have  been  indulg- 
ing too  freely  in  drink,  they  are  apt  to  resort  to  their 
weapons,  and  to  inflict  fatal  injuries. 

During  the  night  great  stacks  of  wood  are  built  by  the  chiefs 
on  the  highest  hills  near  the  towns,  and  set  on  fire  before 
daybreak.  Oxen  and  sheep  are  then  led  three  times  round 
the  fires,  slaughtered,  and  left  to  be  eaten  by  the  birds  and 
beasts  of  prey.  This  is  distinctly  a  heathen  custom,  indica- 
ting clearly  the  fire-worshiper.  When  the  people  awake  in 
the  morning  after  the  fatigue  and  dissipation  of  the  night, 
they  find  the  whole  country  illuminated  with  these  hill-fires. 

The  priesthood  are,  as  may  be  imagined,  no  very  good 
examples  either  of  piety  or  letters.  Some  of  them,  but  by 
no  means  all,  can  read ;  and  even  of  those  who  do  possess 
this  accomplishment,  very  few  trouble  themselves  to  under- 
stand what  they  read,  but  gabble  the  words  in  parrot  fash- 
ion, without  producing  the  least  impression  on  the  brain. 

The  Abyssinians  follow  the  old  Jewish  custom  of  taking 
their  sacred  shrine  into  battle.  The  illustration  represents 
a  battle  between  the  Abyssinians  and  Gallas ;  the  king  is  seen 
shaded  with  his  umbrellas,  giving  orders  to  a  mounted  chief 


THE    BATTLE-FIELD. 


SCENE  AT  A  WEDDING.  37 

whose  ornamented  shield  and  silver  coronal  denote  his  rank. 
In  the  distance  may  be  seen  villages  on  fire,  while  on  the 
right  an  attack  is  being  made  on  one  of  the  lofty  strongholds 
in  which  the  people  love  to  entrench  themselves. 

Several  dead  Gallas  are  seen  in  the  foreground,  and  in 
front  of  the  king  are  some  of  the  fallen  prisoners  begging 
for  mercy. 

In  the  right-hand  corner  of  the  illustration  is  seen  a  conical 
object  on  the  back  of  a  mule.  This  is  one  of  their  shrines, 
which  accompanies  them  as  the  ark  used  to  accompany  the 
Israelites  to  battle.  The  shrine  mostly  contains  a  Bible  or 
the  relics  of  some  favorite  saint,  and  the  covering  of  the 
mule  is  always  of  scarlet  cloth.  Two  priests,  with  their 
white  robes  and  turbans,  are  seen  guarding  the  mule. 

According  to  Bruce,  the  Abyssinians  sometimes  eat  raw 
flesh  cut  from  living  animals.  This  statement  has  been 
much  controverted,  and  no  later  travelers  there  have  wit- 
nessed such  a  scene.  But  it  is  certain  that  they  eat  raw 
meat  in  great  quantities.  Mr.  Parkyns  says  of  an  Abyssin- 
ian wedding  feast : — • 

"  The  guests  are  squatted  round  the  tables  in  long  rows, 
feeding  as  if  their  lives  depended  on  the  quantity  they  can 
devour,  and  washing  it  down  with  floods  of  drink. 

Imagine  two  or  three  hundred  half-naked  men  and  women 
all  in  one  room,  in  a  scene  of  the  most  terrible  confusion. 
All  decorum  is  lost  sight  of ;  and  you  see  the  waiters,  each 
with  a  huge  piece  of  raw  beef  in  his  hands,  rushing  frantic- 
ally to  and  fro  in  his  desire  to  satisfy  the  voracious  appetites 
of  the  guests,  who,  as  he  comes  within  their  reach,  grasp  the 
meat,  and  with  their  long  crooked  swords  hack  off  a  lump  or 
strip,  as  the  case  may  be,  in  their  eagerness  not  to  lose  their 
share." 

In  the  Abyssinian  province  of  Shoa,  the  prince  gives  a 
great  annual  feast  at  Easter.  This  hospitable  banquet  is  on 
a  truly  royal  scale,  and  is  continued  for  a  whole  week,  so  that 
every  free  man  who  can  attend  the  capital  may  have  an 
opportunity  of  taking  part  in  it. 


38  AN  EASTERN  FEAST. 

« 

The  banqueting  room  is  a  very  large  and  lofty  chamber, 
having  on  one  side  a  curtained  alcove,  in  which  the  prince 
sits.  Fresh  grass  is  daily  strewn  on  the  floor,  and  round  the 
room  are  set  the  tables,  which  are  low,  circular  pieces  of 
wickerwork.  Behind  the  tables  and  along  the  walls  are  the 
body  guards  of  the  prince,  armed  with  shields  and  a  sword 
much  resembling  the  old  Roman  weapon. 

Troops  of  servants  are  in  waiting,  and  before  the  banquet 
begins  they  bring  in  the  bread  in  piles,  and  place  it  on  the 
tables.  Sometimes  as  many  as  thirty  loaves  will  be  placed 
for  each  guest,  the  finest  bread  being  always  at  the  top  and 
the  coarsest  below. 

The  object  of  this  arrangement  is  to  suit  the  different 
ranks  of  the  party.  Those  of  highest  rank  come  first,  and 
eat  the  finest,  using  the  second-class  bread  as  table-napkins. 
When  they  have  finished,  the  guests  of  the  next  rank  come 
in,  eat  the  second-class  bread,  and  wipe  their  fingers  on  the 
third-class  bread,  and  so  on  until  the  whole  is  consumed. 

All  being  ready,  the  guests  assemble,  and  the  prince  takes 
his  seat  in  the  alcove,  where  he  gives  audience.  Professional 
musicians  enliven  the  scene  with  their  instruments,  and  pro- 
fessional dancers  aid  their  efforts.  In  the  meantime,  the 
guests  are  eating  as  fast  as  they  can,  the  servants  carrying 
meat  from  one  guest  to  the  other,  and  making  up  neat  little 
sausages  of  meat,  bread,  and  pepper,  which  they  put  adroitly 
into  the  mouths  of  the  guests. 

The  politer  guests,  having  by  means  of  two  or  three  pounds 
of  meat,  a  pile  of  bread,  and  a  gallon  or  so  of  mead,  taken 
the  edge  off  their  own  appetites,  make  up  similarly  seasoned 
balls,  and  put  them  into  their  neighbors  mouths.  This  is 
done  with  such  rapidity  that  a  man  who  happens  to  have 
made  himself  agreeable  to  his  right  and  left-hand  neighbors, 
is  nearly  choked  by  the  haste  with  which  etiquette  requires 
that  he  shall  despatch  the  highly-spiced  morsels. 

After  this  preliminary  portion  of  the  feast,  in  which  cooked 
mutton  is  mostly  employed,  acting  as  a  provocative  to  the 
real  banquet  which  is  to  follow,  the  servants  bring  in  raw 


EASTER  BANQUET. 


THE  STORY  OF  KASSAI.  41 

*4*    •*«.•»••         .--••**">  •        .. .-,  -N, 

meat  still  warm  with  life,  and  cut  from  a  cow  that  has  been 
slaughtered  at  the  door. 

It  is  this  part  of  the  scene  which  has  been  chosen  for  the 
illustration.  On  the  left  is  the  giver  of  the  feast  sitting  in 
his  alcove,  and  below  him  are  the  armed  guards.  The 
guests  are  sitting  at  the  wickerwork  tables,  using  their  curved 
swords  with  the  national  adroitness,  and  servants  are  seen 
waiting  on  the  guests  and  carrying  great  pieces  of  raw  beef 
about.  The  liquids,  by  the  way,  are  drunk  from  horns, 
which  are  always  served  by  women.  In  the  centre  are  seen 
the  musicians,  playing  the  curious  fiddle  and  harp  of  Shoa, 
and  a  little  further  on  are  the  dancers. 

The  recent  invasion  of  Abyssinia  by  the  English,  leads  us 
to  speak  of  the  late  King  Theodore,  who  came  to  so  tragic 
an  end  at  the  close  of  the  war. 

His  true  name  was  Kassai,  and  he  was  the  son  of  a  petty 
chief  whose  only  distinction  was  his  reputed  descent  from 
the  Queen  of  Sheba — a  tradition  of  which  Kassai  afterwards 
took  advantage. 

His  father  dying  and  his  mother  being  poor,  Kassai  took 
refuge  in  a  monastery,  which  was  attacked  by  some  rebels 
who  burned  the  huts  of  which  it  was  composed,  and  killed 
nearly  all  the  boys  who  inhabited  it.  Kassai  fled  to  a  pow- 
erful relation,  who  taught  him  the  art  of  war  as  then  known. 

Afterwards,  he  headed  a  band  of  followers,  much  resem- 
bling  robbers,  and  for  several  years  led  a  wandering  life,  and 
became  a  man  of  considerable  importance.  He  quarreled 
with  his  mother-in-law,  the  wife  of  a  great  chief,  and,  in  a 
battle  with  her  followers,  captured  the  lady  and  her  fine 
province  of  Dembea.  This  quarrel  involved  him  in  wars 
with  his  wife's  father  and  other  great  chiefs ;  but  he  was  gen- 
erally victorious,  and  took  possession  of  the  whole  of  Amhara. 

He  then  demanded  tribute  of  Oubi,  of  Tigre;  but  that 
prince  responded  by  leading  his  army  against  Kassai,  and 
lost  both  his  province  and  his  liberty.  He  was  imprisoned 
until  1860,  when  his  conqueror,  whose  first  wife  was  dead, 
married  his  daughter  and  released  him. 

3 


42  THEODORE  AND  HIS  LIOXS. 

In  1855,  being  practically  master  of  the  whole  country, 
Kassai  had  himself  crowned  by  the  title  of  Theodoras,  King 
of  the  Kings  of  Ethiopia.  From  that  time  to  his  death  he 
maintained  his  supremacy,  his  astonishing  personal  authority 
keeping  in  check  the  fierce  and  rebellious  spirits  by  whom  he 
was  surrounded.  Semi-savage  as  he  was  by  nature,  he  pos- 
sessed many  virtues,  and,  had  he  known  his  epoch  better, 
•would  still  have  been  on  the  throne,  the  ruler  of  a  contented 
instead  of  a  rebellious  people.  But  he  was  too  far  ahead  of 
his  age.  He  saw  the  necessity  for  reforms,  and  impatiently 
tried  to  force  them  on  the  people,  instead  of  gently  paving 
the  way  for  them.  His  mind  at  last  gave  way  under  the 
cares  of  empire  and  the  continual  thwartings  of  his  many 
schemes.  Still,  even  to  the  last,  he  never  lost  his  self-reliance 
nor  his  splendid  courage,  and  though  he  alternated  between 
acts  of  singular  kindness  and  savage  cruelty,  he  fought  to  the 
last,  and  not  until  he  was  deserted  by  his  soldiers  did  he  die 
by  his  own  hand  at  the  entrance  of  his  stronghold. 

Knowing  the  character  of  the  people  over  whom  he  reigned, 
Theodore  made  liberal  use  of  external  accessories  for  the 
purpose  of  striking  awe  into  them,  such  as  magnificent 
robes  and  weapons  adorned  with  the  precious  metals. 
Among  the  most  valued  of  these  accessories  were  four  tame 
lions,  of  which  he  was  very  fond.  These  animals  traveled 
about  with  him,  and  even  lived  in  the  same  stable  with  the 
horses,  never  being  chained  or  shut  up  in  cages,  but  allowed 
to  walk  about  in  perfect  liberty.  "With  an  idea  of  impress- 
ing his  subjects  with  his  importance,  Theodore  was  accus- 
tomed to  have  his  lions  with  him  when  he  gave  audience,  and 
the  accompanying  portrait  was  taken  from  a  sketch  of  the 
Lion  of  Abyssinia  seated  in  the  audience-chamber,  and  sur- 
rounded with  the  living  emblems  of  the  title  which  he 
bore,  and  which  he  perpetuated  in  his  royal  seal. 

This  portrait  was  taken  about  ten  years  before  his  death, 
when  he  was  in  the  enjoyment  of  perfect  health  of  body  and 
mind,  and  while  he  was  the  irresponsible  ruler  of  his  country, 
knowing  of  none  greater  than  himself,  and  having  his  mind 


ABYSSINIAN  HEATH 


THE  GALLA  AND  SOMAULI  TRIBES.  45 

filled  with  schemes  of  conquest  of  other  lands,  and  reforms  in 
his  own.  In  spite  of  the  loss  of  his  hair,  which  he  wore  short 
in  the  last  years  of  his  life,  and  of  the  ravages  which  time,  anx- 
iety and  misdirected  zeal  had  made  in  his  features,  the  face  is 
essentially  the  same  as  that  of  the  dead  man  who  lay  within 
the  gates  of  Magdala  on  the  fatal  Good  Friday  of  1868. 

Southerly  of  Abyssinia  and  the  Gulf  of  Aden  is  the 
country  occupied  by  the  Somaulies,  who  are  subdivided  into 
several  tribes.  Ajan,  on  the  Indian  ocean,  is  the  chief  dis- 
trict. Berbera  is  the  chief  town.  They  are  a  warlike  peo- 
ple, and  instead  of  spears  and  shields,  are  armed  with  bows 
and  arrows. 

Southerly  of  Abyssinia,  and  westerly  of  the  Somauli 
country,  are  the  Gallas — a  fine,  handsome,  and  warlike  race. 
Though  far  more  courageous  than  the  Abyssinians,  they 
sometimes  become  their  slaves.  Female  Galla  slaves  are  fre- 
quently kept  in  Abyssinian  families,  and  the  two  races  have 
become  considerably  mixed. 

Westward  of  Abyssinia  and  the  Gallas,  and  in  the  regions 
of  the  upper  Nile  and  its  lake  tributaries,  are  found  many 
different  tribes ;  the  Latooka,  the  Obbo,  the  Bari,  the  Madi, 
the  Dinki,  the  Shillook ;  the  Wahuma  and  the  Wanyambo  in 
Karague,  and  others.  Still  farther  south  are  the  Wagogo ; 
and  the  Wanyamuezi,  or  Weezee,  living  in  Unyamuezi  or 
the  Land  of  the  Moon,  and  several  more  tribes,  through 
whose  territory  runs  the  great  caravan  route  between  Zanzi- 
bar and  Ujiji  on  lake  Tanganyika. 

•  Westerly  of  this  lake  is  the  great  Manyema  country, 
recently  brought  to  light  by  Dr.  Livingstone's  travels. 
Southerly  and  westerly  of  Manyema,  are  the  almost  unknown 
regions  of  Cazembe,  Londa,  Balonda,  etc.  These  tribes,  with 
some  others,  will  come  under  our  observation  in  following 
Livingstone,  Stanley,  Burton,  Speke,  Grant  and  Baker,  in. 
their  travels  among  them. 


CHAPTER  III. 

AFRICA  AND  ITS  INHABITANTS. 

(CONTINUED.) 

. 

IF  the  reader  of  the  foregoing  pages  has  consulted  the  map 
upon  page  21,  closely,  he  has  been  enabled  to  follow  the 
writer  and  trace  out  understandingly  the  location  of  the 
different  countries  spoken  of,  and  the  tribes  inhabiting  them. 
That  map  was  designed  more  particularly,  to  locate  these 
tribes,  rather  than  to  mark  out  boundaries  of  countries ;  differ- 
ing in  this  respect,  entirely,  from  almost  any  map  extant.  It 
will  be  seen  by  refering  to  it,  that  the  reader  has  been  intro- 
duced to  the  countries  and  people  located  upon  the  Southern 
and  Western  shores  of  the  Mediterranean  and  Red  Seas,  the 
Gulf  of  Adan,  and  also  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  great  Desert 
of  Sahara.  It  will  be  here  noted  that  although  he  has 
approached  almost  to  the  Equator  on  the  East  coast,  which  is 
about  the  central  North  and  South  division  of  the  Continent, 
he  has  found  no  people  as  yet  known  as  Negroes.  This, taken 
into  consideration  with  the  fact,  that  North  Africa  has  double 
the  breadth  of  South  Africa,  the  fact  is  clearly  demonstrated 
that  the  inhabitants  of  Africa  are  not  Negroes  as  a  general 
thing. 

On  the  "Western  coast  of  Africa,  at  about  15°  North  lati- 
tude, we  note  the  first  appearance  of  the  true  Negro,  and  not 
then  in  tribes,  but  in  an  intermingling  with  other  races.  It 
is  not  until  we  reach  a  latitude  still  farther  South  do  we  find 
the  pure  Negro  race  distinct  and  clearly  developed. 

46 


THE  KINGDOM  OF  BORNU.  47 

It  will  be  shown  hereafter,  that  most  of  the  tribes  of  that 
portion  of  Africa  lying  South  of  the  Equator,  possess  char- 
acteristics entirely  different  from  those  of  the  Negro  tribes, 
and  are  clearly  of  a  different  type  and  race,  and  it  will  be 
clearly  seen  how  erroneous  has  been  the  general  interpreta- 
tion of  the  word  African,  as  meaning  the  Negro  race  alone, 
for,  while  it  is  true  that  the  Negro  is  found  only  in  Africa, 
yet,  to  call  all  Africans,  Negroes,  is  as  improper  as  it  would 
be  to  call  all  Americans,  Indians. 

Leaving  Abyssinia  on  the  eastern  coast,  and  going  westward 
we  pass  through  the  southern  portion  of  the  Libyan  Desert, 
,  where  are  found  mixed  tribes  of  Negroes  and  Arabs.  West 
of  this  lies  Lake  Tchad,  whose  shores  form  the  eastern  bound- 
ary of  the  Ancient  Kingdom  of  Bornu,  embracing  many 
tribes  and  speaking  several  different  dialects.  There  are 
numerous  large  cities  and  towns,  which  are  surrounded  by  high 
walls.  The  capital  is  called  Kukawa. 

The  genuine  Bornuese  are  not  a  handsome  people,  having 
many  coarse  negro  features,  although  their  foreheads  denote 
more  intellect  than  the  average  negroes  of  Africa  possess. 

In  religion  they  are  Mohammedans,  and  they  have  some 
Turkish  customs.  They  tattoo  their  children  profusely  when 
quite  young.  They  have  slaves,  but  generally  treat  them 
kindly.  As  in  Manyema,  where  Dr.  Livingtone  recently 
traveled,  much  of  the  marketing  is  said  to  be  done  by 
women,  and  the  markets  are  well  regulated ;  every  thing  that 
ft  Bornuese  can  want  is  for  sale  in  the  stalls,  from  a  piece  of 
indigo,  to  a  tame  lion.  Polygamy  is  extensively  practiced, 
and  the  wives  are  obliged  to  be  very  humble  in  presence  of 
their  husbands,  whom  they  always  approach  on  their  knees, 
and  they  are  not  allowed  to  speak  to  any  of  the  male  sex 
except  kneeling,  and  with  their  heads  and  faces  covered.  An 
officer  who  was  killed  in  1852  left  behind  him  seventy-three 
sons  and  a  harem  of  nearly  four  hundred  females. 

Marriage  is  later  in  Bornu  than  in  many  parts  of  Africa, 
the  girls  scarcely  ever  marrying  until  they  are  full  fifteen,  and 
mostly  being  a  year  or  two  older. 


48  WEDDINGS- A  CAGED  SULTAN. 

"Weddings  are  conducted  in  a  ceremonious  and  noisy  man- 
ner. The  bride  is  perched  on  the  back  of  an  ox,  and  rides  to 
the  bridegroom's  house  attended  by  her  mother  and  friends, 
and  followed  by  other  oxen  carrying  her  dowry T  which  mostly 
consists  of  toorkadees  and  other  raiment.  All  her  male  friends 
are  mounted,  and  dash  up  to  her  at  full  gallop,  this  being  the 
recognised  salute  on  such  occasions.  The  bridegroom  is  in 
the  meantime  parading  the  streets  with  a  shouting  mob  after 
liim,  or  sitting  in  his  house  with  the  same  shouting  mob  in 
front  of  him,  yelling  out  vociferous  congratulations,  blowing 
horns,  beating  drums,  and,  in  fact,  letting  their  African  nature 
have  its  full  sway. 

The  Bornese  are  governed  at  least  nominally  by  a  sultan, 
but  the  real  authority  is  lodged  in  the  hands  of  the  Sheikh, 
•who  commands  the  army.  At  a  visit  made  to  the  sultan  by 
Borne  travelers  a  few  years  since,  they  found  him  sitting  in  a 
sort  of  a  cage  like  a  wild  beast,  no  person  being  allowed  to 
approach  him  within  a  certain  distance — etiquette  requiring 
each  courtier  to  make  his  obeisance  to  his  majesty  T  then  seat 
himself  on  the  ground  with  his  ~baok  towards  the  monarch. 

Those  who  serve  the  court  of  Bornu  are,  by  ancient  eti- 
quette, obliged  to  have  very  large  heads  and  stomachs,  and, 
as  such  gifts  of  nature  are  not  very  common,  an  artificial 
enlargement  of  both  regions  is  held  to  be  a  sufficient  compli- 
ance with  custom. 

Consequently,  the  courtiers  pad  themselves  with  wadding 
to  such  an  extent,  that  as  they  sit  on  horseback  their  abdomens 
seem  to  protrude  over  the  pommel  of  the  saddle. 

The  sultan  accompanies  the  shiekh  to  battle,  but  never  gives 
orders  or  carries  arms,  fighting  being  considered  beneath  his 
dignity.  One  of  the  sultans  lost  his  life  in  consequence  of 
this  rule,  a  battle  having  gone  against  him,  and  he  was  obliged 
to  fly.  Unfortunately  for  him,  he  was  qualified  by  nature 
for  royalty,  being  large-bodied  and  of  enormous  weight,  so 
that  his  horse  could  not  carry  him  fast  enough  to  escape. 

Finding  himself  about  to  be  overtaken,  the  sultan  dis- 
mounted from  his  horse,  wrapped  his  face  in  his  shawl,  seated 
himself  under  a  tree,  and  died  as  became  his  rank. 


BORNU  SOLDIERS— THE  SHOOAS.  51 

Theft  is  punished  by  whipping  and  fine,  but  in  some  cases 
the  guilty  party  is  buried  to  his  neck  in  the  sand,  and  his  head 
and  face  besmeared  with  molasses.  The  swarm  of  flies  that 
settle  upon  him  soon  teach  him  that  "  the  way  of  the  trans- 
gressor is  hard." 

The  sheikh  keeps  a  large  force  of  cavalry  and  infantry  on 
duty  constantly.  The  latter  are  composed  of  Kanemboo  ne- 
groes, and  number  many  thousands.  These  negroes  make  fine 
soldiers.  They  inhabit  a  portion  of  the  kingdom  bordering  on 
Lake  Tchad,  and  subsist  mostly  on  fish  which  they  obtain  in 
a  very  ingenious  manner.  Connecting  two  gourds  by  a  stout 
bamboo,  they  sit  astride  it,  use  their  hands  for  paddles,  and 
driving  the  fish  into  their  nets,  raise  it  carefully,  kill  the  fish 
with  a  short  club,  place  them  in  the  gourds,  and  paddle  ashore. 
(See  cut  on  page  55.) 

The  Shooa  tribe  is  one  of  the  most  important  of  the  many 
absorbed  into  the  Bornuan  Kingdom.  They  are  Arabs  by 
descent,  and  speak  the  Arab  language.  They  are  noted  for 
their  horsemanship,  and  form  a  large  part  of  the  cavalry. 

They  are  great  hunters,  and  boldly  chase  the  fierce  buffa- 
loes, armed  only  with  a  spear.  The  Shooa  horse  is  trained 
to  run  along  side  of  the  buffalo,  and  the  hunter  frequently 
rides  like  a  circus-rider,  standing  upon  both  animals,  in 
which  position  he  uses  his  weapon  to  the  greatest  advantage. 

The  Shooas  are  remarkable  for  their  beauty.  Their  color 
is  a  light,  ruddy  copper,  and  they  have  fine,  open  counte- 
nances, with  aquiline  noses  and  large  eyes.  The  Shooa 
women  are  especially  good-looking,  and  remind  the  observer 
of  the  gipsies.  Handsome  as  they  are,  their  beauty  is  held 
in  great  contempt  by  the  negro  tribes  among  which  they  live, 
who  naturally  think  that  thick  lips,  flat  noses,  and  black 
skins  constitute  the  only  real  beauty  in  man  or  woman. 

Easterly,  southerly,  and  westerly  of  Bornu  are  other 
empires — Waday,  Adamawa,  Sokoto,  the  Fellatah  Dominions, 
and  Songhay,  the  ancient  western  rival  of  Bornu,  whose 
capital  is  Timbuctoo.  The  vast  territory  occupied  by  these 
countries,  and  some  others,  is  called  Soudan. 


52  SOUDAN— THE  MAXDINGOES. 

Here  are  fertile  lands,  irrigated  by  large  navigable  rivers, 
and  extensive  lakes  fringed  with  the  finest  timber.  The 
region  abounds  in  various  kinds  of  grain,  sugar-cane,  cotton, 
and  indigo.  The  natives  not  only  weave  their  own  cotton, 
but  they  dye  their  own  home-made  shirts  with  their  own 
indigo.  The  eastern  branch  of  the  river  Niger  flows  through 
the  country,  and  affords  navigation  for  six  hundred  miles. 

Here  exists  the  greatest  diversity  of  tribes,  or  rather  nations, 
with  idioms  entirely  distinct.  The  great  and  momentous 
struggle  between  Islamism  and  Paganism  is  continually  going 
on,  causing  the  most  painful  results,  while  the  miseries  arising 
from  slavery  and  the  slave  trade  are  here  revealed. 

The  Mandingoes  occupy  a  large  tract  of  country  on  the 
West  Coast — just  south  of  the  great  desert — through  which 
flow  the  Gambia  and  Senegal  rivers.  The  country  is  called 
Senegambia  from  its  two  rivers.  They  are  tall  and  well 
made,  and  have  the  woolly  hair  of  the  true  negroes,  but  not 
all  their  distinguishing  traits.  Their  prevailing  religion  is 
Mohammedanism  in  a  modified  form,  and  it  has  greatly 
improved  their  condition,  and  caused  the  total  abolishment 
of  human  sacrifices.  It  has  not  cured  them  of  lying,  stealing, 
and  other  vices,  but  it  has  raised  them  in  the  scale  of  human- 
ity, and  caused  them  to  renounce  the  system  of  child-selling, 
which  is  so  common  in  Africa. 

Polygamy  is,  of  course,  the  fashion,  but  each  wife  has  her 
own  house,  and  the  women  have  reason  to  be  contented,  as 
they  are  not  degraded  slaves,  like  many  other  women  in 
Africa.  Mr.  Reade  says  they  are  most  tyrannical  wives,  and 
"  know  how  to  make  their  husbands  kneel  before  their  charms, 
and  how  to  place  their  little  feet  upon  them."  "When  they 
are  threatened  with  divorce,  they  shed  tears,  and  if  a  man 
repudiates  his  wife,  they  attack  him  en  masse  ;  they  hate,  but 
protect,  each  other. 

The  coast  country  extending  from  Senegambia  to  Ovampo- 
land,  is  known  as  Upper  and  Lower  Guinea,  and  is  inhabited 
by  various  negro  tribes. 

Sierra  Leone,  so  called  by  its  discoverer  from  the  roaring 


LIBERIA— THE  NEGROES'  PARADISE.  53 

of  thunder  which  he  heard  among  its  mountains,  is  the  prin- 
cipal British  colony  on  the  west  coast,  and  is  as  beautiful  as  it 
is  malarious.  Its  capital  is  called  Free-town.  Sierra  Leone 
has  been  called  the  Negroes'  paradise. 

It  was  colonized  in  1787,  by  emigrants  from  England — four 
hundred  negroes  and  sixty  women  of  the  town.  The  popu- 
lation was  augmented  from  time  to  time  by  liberated  slaves. 
When  a  slave  is  taken  it  is  sent  to  Sierra  Leone.  By  this 
means  a  very  mongrel  population  is  introduced,  and  not  a 
very  virtuous  one ;  for  many  slaves  are  sold  out  of  their  coun- 
try for  their  crimes. 

The  Republic  of  Liberia,  at  the  upper  end  of  Guinea,  is 
the  independent  colony  of  free  negroes,  established  by  the 
American  Colonization  Society.  No  white  persons  are  allowed 
to  become  citizens. 

Liberia,  as  an  independent  state,  is  now  in  the  twenty-sixth 
year  of  its  existence.  It  contains  half  a  million  of  inhabi- 
tants, has  fifty  churches,  many  schools,  and  a  college  attended 
by  fifty  students.  The  president  of  the  republic  is  J.  J. 
Roberts,  who  is  now  serving  his  fourth  or  fifth  term.  Most 
of  the  colored  settlers  from  this  country  have  to  pass  at  first 
through  an  acclimating  fever. 

The  exports  of  Liberia  are  palm-oil,  cam-wood,  and  ivory. 
Coffee  and  sugar  are  among  the  products. 

A  party  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  negroes,  from  North  Car- 
olina and  Georgia,  sailed  from  New  York  in  November  1872, 
for  Liberia,  under  the  care  of  the  Colonization  Society,  which 
pays  all  the  expenses  of  transportation,  and  furnishes  stores 
for  the  use  and  support  of  the  party  after  its  arrival  out. 
Each  family  receives  twenty-five  acres  of  land  free,  and  each 
man  is  endowed  at  once  with  citizenship.  The  society  has 
sent  to  Liberia  at  least  one  ship-load  of  emigrants  every  year 
since  the  first  company  sailed  from  New  York  in  1820. 

Upper  Guinea  extends  from  Liberia  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Niger,  and  is  divided  into  sections  known  as  the  Slave  Coast, 
the  Gold  Coast,  the  Ivory  Coast  and  the  Grain  Coast. 

Along  the  Grain  Coast,  BO  called  from  the  cardamon  seed 


54:  THE  TITANS  OF  THE  GRAIX  COAST. 

which  grow  here  abundantly,  live  the  Krnmen,  a  very  ath- 
letic race,  who  take  naturally  to  the  water  and  manage  their 
frail  canoes  with  remarkable  skill  and  daring.  They  dash 
boldly  out  to  an  approaching  ship,  and  make  themselves  very 
useful  to  both  trading  and  government  vessels. 

The  Krumen  are  said  to  be  arrant  liars  and  confirmed 
thieves,  without  the  slightest  notion  of  morality ;  yet  they 
are  a  cheerful,  lively  set  of  fellows,  possessing  to  the  full  the 
negro's  love  of  singing,  drumming  and  dancing.  Any 
kind  of  work  that  they  do  is  aided  by  a  song,  and  an  expe- 
rienced traveler  who  is  paddled  by  Krumen  always  takes 
with  him  a  drum  of  some  sort,  knowing  that  it  will  make  the 
difference  of  a  quarter  of  the  time  occupied  in  the  journey. 
Even  after  a  hard  day's  work,  they  will  come  to  their  master, 
ask  permission  to  "  make  play,"  and  will  keep  up  their  sing- 
ing and  dancing  until  after  midnight. 

The  Gold  Coast,  so  called  from  the  gold-dust  here  found, 
is  inhabited  by  two  tribes,  the  Fanti  and  the  Ashanti,  who 
are  never  on  peaceable  terms.  The  Fanti  are  good  canoe-men, 
but  their  boats  are  much  larger  than  those  used  by  the  Kru- 
men. Mr.  Duncan,  a  traveler,  describes  them  as  the  lowest 
and  laziest  of  Africans. 

They  are  very  superstitious,  and  have  fetishes,  or  charms, 
scattered  thickly  around.  Anything  answers  for  a  fetish, 
but  a  bundle  of  rags  tied  together  like  a  rag-doll  is  a  great 
favorite.  A  little  clay  image  sometimes  takes  the  place  of 
the  rags. 

The  Ashanti  much  resemble  the  Fanti,  but  are  generally 
the  victors  in  the  wars  carried  on  between  them.  The  dress 
and  accoutrements  of  the  Ashanti  captains  are  most  fantastic, 
consisting  in  part  of  feathers,  horns,  horse-tails,  bits  of  leather, 
red  boots,  etc.  The  common  soldiers  are  destitute  of  uni- 
forms and  almost  of  clothing,  and  carry  any  weapons  which 
they  may  be  able  to  procure.  The  caboceers  are  important 
personages,  and  are  allowed  the  privilege  of  sitting  on  stools 
when  in  the  presence  of  the  king.  They  also  command  the 
soldiery,  and  ride  at  their  head  on  a  horse  whose  trap- 


KRUMEN  AND  THEIR  CANOES. 


FISHING  SCENE. 


INHABITANTS  OF  THE  GOLD  COAST.  57 

pings  are  wonderful  to  behold.  But  the  caboceers  are  poor 
riders,  and  are  generally  held  on  their  horses  by  two  men — 
one  on  each  side. 

The  women  are  the  chief  gold-washers,  and  the  quantity 
of  gold  annually  found  is  large,  and  it  is  used  by  the  rich 
natives  in  barbaric  profusion.  The  great  nobles,  on  state 
occasions,  wear  golden  bracelets  of  such  weight  that  they 
have  to  rest  their  arms  on  little  slave  boys  who  stand  in  front 
of  them  for  that  purpose. 

In  Ashanti,  as  in  other  parts  of  Africa,  the  royal  succession 
never  lies  in  the  direct  line,  but  passes  to  the  brother  or 
nephew  of  the  deceased  monarch,  the  nephew  in  question 
being  the  son  of  the  king's  sister,  and  not  his  brother.  The 
reason  for  this  arrangement  is,  that  the  people  are  sure  that 
their  future  king  has  some  royal  blood  in  his  veins,  whereas, 
according  to  their  ideas,  no  one  can  be  quite  certain  that  the 
son  of  the  queen  is  also  the  son  of  the  king,  and,  as  the 
king's  wives  are  never  of  royal  blood,  they  might  have  a 
mere  plebeian  claimant  to  the  throne.  Therefore  the  son  of 
the  king's  sister  is  always  chosen ;  and  it  is  a  curious  fact  that 
the  sister  in  question  need  not  be  married,  provided  that  the 
father  of  her  child  be  strong,  good-looking,  and  of  tolerable 
position  in  life. 

The  king  is  restricted  in  the  number  of  his  wives.  But,  as 
the  prohibition  fixes  the  magic  number  of  three  thousand 
three  hundred  and  thirty -three,  he  has  not  much  to  complain 
of  with  regard  to  the  stringency  of  the  law. 

The  natives  have  their  legend  about  gold.  They  say  that 
when  the  Great  Spirit  first  created  man,  he  made  one  black 
man  and  one  white  one,  and  gave  them  their  choice  of  two 
gifts.  One  contained  all  the  treasures  of  the  tropics — the 
fruitful  trees,  the  fertile  soil,  the  warm  sun,  and  a  calabash 
of  gold  dust.  The  other  gift  was  simply  a  quantity  of  white 
paper,  ink,  and  pens. 

The  Ashanti  are  very  jealous  of  their  own  rights,  and 
resent  all  attempts  of  foreigners  to  work  their  mines.  They 
will  rather  allow  the  precious  metal  to  be  wasted  than  permit 


58  THE  SLAVE  COAST— DAHOMEY. 

the  white  man  to  procure  it.  As  to  the  mulatto,  they  have 
the  most  intense  contempt  for  him  who  is  a  "  white-black 
man,  silver  and  copper,  and  not  gold." 

Dahomey,  a  kingdom  founded  in  blood  and  cruelty,  has 
maintained  its  existence  for  over  two  centuries  in  spite  of 
terrible  scenes  continually  enacted  there — scenes  which  would 
drive  almost  any  other  people  to  rebellion.  Biit  the  fearful 
human  sacrifices  for  which  Dahomey  has  long  been  infamous, 
are  fully  sanctioned,  and  often  forced  upon  the  king,  by  his 
subjects. 

Dahomey  is  situated  west  of  Ashanti,  on  the  Slave  Coast. 
The  two  celebrated  ports,  Lagos  and  Whydah,  have  long  been 
the  outlets  where  slaves,  captured  in  the  interior,  were  put 
on  board  vessels.  Lagos,  however,  has  been  recently  ceded 
to  the  English. 

Dahomey  is  the  strangest  of  countries,  and  the  stories  of  its 
wild  superstitions  and  savage  idolatry  have  been  the  ground 
work  for  the  general  belief  in  the  universal  natural  cruelty 
of  the  natives  of  Africa.  Deeds  worthy  of  fiends  are  openly 
committed  by  this  people;  hundreds  of  human  beings  are 
yearly  executed,  in  the  carrying  out  of  their  fetish  customs 
and  ceremonies  and  no  feast  day  passes  over  but  blood  flows 
freely  before  the  people,  while  loud  shouts  and  frantic  gestures 
add  horror  to  their  beastly  orgies.  Here  also  the  female  race 
loses  all  its  characteristics  of  gentleness  and  becomes  more  sav- 
age and  fierce  than  the  other  sex.  Here  we  find  the  "  Ama- 
zons "  or  female  soldiers  of  whose  cruelties  and  savage  acts  all 
have  heard.  "No  nation  has  more  disgusting  superstitions  and 
beliefs,  and  none  more  ready  to  carry  them  into  practice. 

Snakes  are  highly  venerated  throughout  Dahomey,  and 
are  protected  by  the  severest  laws.  The  turkey-buzzard  is 
also  considered  holy,  and  is  always  supplied  with  an  abundance 
of  food. 

Dahomey  has  two  kings,  one  the  Bush  King  who  regulates 
agriculture  and  commerce,  the  other  the  City  King  who  rules 
over  cities  and  the  slave-trade.  The  City  King  is  the  most 
punctilious  with  regard  to  etiquette,  and  preserves  the  small- 
est traditions  with  a  minute  rigidity  worthy  of  the  court  of 


EFFECT  OF  A  ROYAL  DRINK.  59 

Louis  XIY.  Although  he  may  be  sitting  on  a  mere  earthen 
bench,  and  smoking  a  clumsy  and  very  plain  pipe,  all  his 
court  wait  upon  him  with  a  reverence  that  seems  to  regard 
him  as  a  demi-god  rather  than  a  man.  Should  the  heat,  from 
which  he  is  sheltered  as  much  as  possible  by  the  royal 
umbrella,  produce  a  few  drops  on  his  brow,  they  are  del- 
icately wiped  off  by  one  of  his  wives  with  a  fine  cloth  ;  if  the 
tobacco  prove  rather  too  potent,  a  brass  or  even  a  gold  spit- 
toon is  placed  before  the  royal  lips.  If  he  sneezes,  the  whole 
assembled  company  burst  into  a  shout  of  benedictions.  The 
chief  ceremony  takes  place  when  he  drinks.  As  soon  as  he 
raises  a  cup  to  his  lips,  two  of  his  wives  spread  a  white  cloth 
in  front  of  him,  while  others  hold  a  number  of  gaudy 
umbrellas  so  as  to  shield  him  from  view.  Every  one  who 
has  a  gun  fires  it,  those  who  have  bells  beat  them,  rattles  are 
shaken,  and  all  the  courtiers  bend  to  the  ground,  clapping 
their  hands.  As  to  the  commoners,  they  turn  their  backs  if 
sitting,  if  standing  they  dance  like  bears,  paddling  with  their 
hands  as  if  they  were  paws,  bawling  "  Poo-oo-oo  "  at  the  top 
of  their  voices. 

If  he  sends  a  message,  he  first  delivers  it  to  the  Dakro,  a 
woman  attached  to  the  court.  She  takes  it  to  the  Meu,  and 
the  Meu  passes  it  on  to  the  Mingan,  and  the  Mingan  delivers 
it  to  the  intended  recipient.  When  the  message  is  sent  to 
the  king,  the  order  is  reversed,  and,  as  each  officer  has  to 
speak  to  a  superior,  a  salutation  is  used,  neatly  graduated 
according  to  rank.  "When  the  message  at  last  reacheP  the 
Dakro,  she  goes  down  on  all-fours,  and  whispers  the  message 
into  the  royal  ears. 

"  At  Kana  is  seen  the  first  intimation  of  royalty.  A  small 
stream  runs  by  it,  which  supplies  Kana  with  water.  At  day- 
break the  women-slaves  of  the  palace  are  released  from  the 
durance  in  which  they  are  kept  during  the  night,  and  sent  off 
to  bring  water  for  the  palace.  They  are  not  fighting  women, 
or  Amazons  as  they  are  generally  called,  but  the  slaves  of 
the  Amazons,  each  of  these  women  having  at  least  one  female 
slave,  and  some  as  many  as  fifty. 

"  No  man  is  allowed  to  look  at  these  slaves,  much  less  to 


60  THE  SLAVES  OF  THE  AMAZONS. 

address  them,  and  in  consequence,  when  the  women  go  to 
bring  water,  they  are  headed  by  one  of  their  number  carrying 
a  rude  bell  suspended  to  the  neck.  When  the  leader  sees  a 
man  in  the  distance,  she  shakes  the  bell  vigorously,  and  calls 
out,  '  Gan-ja,'  i.e.  '  the  bell  comes.'  As  soon  as  the  tinkle  of 
the  bell  or  the  cry  reach  the  ears  of  any  men  who  happen  to 
be  on  the  road,  they  immediately  run  to  the  nearest  f  ootpath, 
of  which  a  number  are  considerately  made,  leading  into  the 
woods,  turn  their  backs,  and  wait  patiently  until  the  long  file 
of  women  has  passed. 

"  They  had  need  to  escape  as  fast  as  they  can,  for  if  even 
one  of  the  water-pots  should  happen  to  be  broken,  the  near- 
est man  would  inevitably  be  accused  of  having  frightened 
the  woman  who  carried  it,  and  would  almost  certainly  be  sold 
into  slavery,  together  with  his  wife  and  family-" 

The  palace  walls,  which  are  of  great  extent,  are  surrounded 
by  a  cheerful  adornment  in  the  shape  of  human  skulls,  which 
are  placed  on  the  top  at  intervals  of  thirty  feet  or  so,  and 
strike  the  key-note  to  the  Dahomian  character.  In  no  place 
in  the  world  is  human  life  sacrificed  with  such  prodigality  and 
ostentation. 

The  celebrated  force  known  as  the  Amazons  are  all  women, 
officers  as  well  as  privates,  and  are  not  allowed  to  become 
wives ;  and  although  the  king  does  sometimes  take  a  fancy 
to  one  of  them,  she  may  not  take  the  position  of  a  regular 
wife. 

About  one-third  of  the  Amazons  have  been  married,  but 
rest  are  unmarried  maidens.  The  spinster  soldiers  are 
women  who  have  been  selected  by  the  king  from  the  families 
of  his  subjects,  he  having  the  choice  of  them  when  they  arrive 
at  marriageable  age ;  and  the  once  married  soldiers  are  women 
who  have  been  detected  in  infidelity,  and  are  enlisted  instead 
of  executed,  or  wives  who  are  vixenish  towards  their  hus- 
bands. 

Blood-thirsty  and  savage  as  are  the  Dahomians  naturally,  the 
Amazons  take  the  lead  in  both  qualities,  seeming  to  avenge 
themselves,  as  it  were,  for  the  privations  to  which  they  are 


AMAZON  REVIEW. 


AN  AMAZON  REVIEW.  63 

doomed.     As  a  rule,  they  are  more  masculine  in  appearance 
than  the  male  soldiers,  and  possessed  of  unflinching  cour^: 
and  ruthless  cruelty,  and  they  are  fond  of  boasting  that  t 
are  not  women,  but  men. 

Of  course  it  is  needful  that  such  a  body  should  obs  e 
strict  celibacy,  if  their  efficiency  is  to  be  maintained,^  nd 
especial  pains  are  taken  to  secure  this  object.  In  the  first 
place,  the  strictest  possible  watch  is  kept  over  them,  and,  in 
the  second,  the  power  of  superstition  is  invoked.  At  one 
of  the  palace  gates,  called  significantly  Agbo-dewe,  i.e.  the 
Discovery  Gate,  is  placed  a  potent  fetish,  who  watches  over 
the  conduct  of  the  Amazons,  and  invariably  discovers  the 
soldier  who  breaks  the  most  important  of  the  military  laws. 
The  Amazons  are  so  afraid  of  this  fetish,  that  when  one  of 
them  has  transgressed,  she  has  been  known  to  confess  her 
fault,  and  to  give  up  the  name  of  her  partner  in  crime,  even 
with  the  knowledge  that  he  will  die  a  cruel  death,  and  that 
she  will  be  severely  punished,  and  probably  executed  by 
her  fellow-soldiers. 

At  a  review  witnessed  by  Mr.  Duncan,  model  forts  were 
constructed  of  acacia  thorns,  which  were  heaped  up  into  walls 
of  some  sixty  or  seventy  feet  in  thickness,  and  eight  in  height, 
which  would  seem  to  be  simply  impregnable  to  a  barefooted 
soldiery.  "Within  the  forts  were  built  strong  pens  seven  feet 
in  height,  inside  of  which  were  cooped  up  a  vast  number  of 
male  and  female  slaves  belonging  to  the  king. 

The  review  began  by  the  Amazons  forming  with  shouldered 
arms  about  two  hundred  feet  in  front  of  the  strong  fort,  and 
waiting  for  the  word  of  command.  As  soon  as  it  was  given, 
they  rushed  forward,  charged  the  solid  fence  as  though  thorns 
were  powerless  against  their  bare  feet,  dashed  over  it,  tore 
down  the  fence,  and  returned  to  the  king  in  triumph,  leading 
with  them  the  captured  slaves,  and  exhibiting  also  the  scalps 
of  warriors  who  had  fallen  in  previous  battles,  but  who  were 
conventionally  supposed  to  have  perished  on  the  present 
occasion.  So  rapid  and  fierce  was  the  attack,  that  scarcely  a 


64:  THE  KING  OF  DAHOMEY. 

minute  had  elapsed  after  the  word  of  command  was  given, 
before  the  women  were  seen  returning  with  their  captives. 

A  portion  of  the  Amazons  are  called  the  Razor-women. 
This  curious  body  is  intended  for  striking  terror  into  the 
euemy,  being  armed  with  a  large  razor  that  looks  exactly  as 
if  it  had  been  made  for  the  clown  in  a  pantomime.  The 
number  of  the  Amazonian  army  is  said  to  be  about  five 
thousand. 

When  any  one  presents  himself  before  the  king,  he  ap- 
proaches on  his  hands  and  knees,  or  wriggling  like  a  snake, 
and  prostrates  himself  flat  on  his  face,  kissing  the  ground, 
and  throwing  dust  all  over  his  person.  When  the  king  holds 
his  court,  several  skulls  of  powerful  chiefs  whom  he  has  slain 
are  set  before  him.  Their  exhibition  is  considered  a  mark 
of  honor  to  their  former  owners. 

A  procession  which  escorted  the  king  at  Agabome,  the  real 
capital,  at  the  commencement  of  a  public  celebration  lasting 
several  days,  has  been  described  as  follows : — 

"  First  came  a  long  line  of  chiefs,  distinguished  by  their 
flags  and  umbrellas,  and  after  marching  once  round  the  large 
space  or  square,  they  crossed  over  and  formed  a  line  of  um- 
brellas opposite  the  gateway.  Then  came  the  royal  proces- 
sion itself,  headed  by  skirmishers,  and  led  by  a  man  carrying 
one  of  the  skull-topped  banners.  After  these  came  some  five 
hundred  musketeers,  and  behind  them  marched  two  men  car- 
rying leathern  shields  painted  white,  and  decorated  with  a 
pattern  in  black.  These  are  highly  valued,  as  remnants  of 
the  old  times  when  shields  were  used  in  warfare,  and  were 
accompanied  by  a  guard  of  tall  negroes,  wearing  brass  helmets 
and  black  horse-tails. 

"  Next  came  the  kafo,  or  emblem  of  royalty,  namely,  an 
iron  fetish-stick  enclosed  in  a  white  linen  case,  topped  with  a 
white  plume ;  and  after  the  kafo  came  the  king,  riding  under 
the  shadow  of  four  white  umbrellas,  and  further  sheltered 
from  the  sun  by  three  parasols,  yellow,  purple,  and  bluish-red. 
These  were  waved  over  him  so  as  to  act  as  fans." 

On  a  subsequent  day  there  was  a  procession  of  hunchbacks, 


CEREMONIES  OF  THE  EVIL  >TIGHT.  65 

•who  are  assembled  in  troops  of  both  sexes  at  the  palace.  The 
chief  of  them  wielded  a  formidable  whip,  and,  having  arms 
of  great  length  and  muscular  power,  easily  cut  a  way  for  his 
followers  through  the  dense  crowd. 

"  The  evening  of  the  fourth  day  is  the  dreaded  Evil  Night, 
on  which  the  king  walks  in  solemn  procession  to  the  market- 
place, where  the  chief  executioner  with  his  own  hand  puts  to 
death  those  victims  who  have  been  reserved.  The  precise 
nature  of  the  proceedings  is  not  known,  as  none  are  allowed 
to  leave  their  houses  except  the  king  and  his  retinue ;  and 
any  one  who  is  foolish  enough  to  break  this  law  is  carried  off 
at  once  to  swell  the  list  of  victims.  It  is  said  that  the  king 
speaks  to  the  men,  charging  them  with  messages  to  his  dead 
father,  telling  him  that  his  memory  is  revered,  and  that  a 
number  of  new  attendants  have  been  sent  to  him,  and  with 
his  own  hand  striking  the  first  blow,  the  others  being  slain 
by  the  regular  executioner." 

A  fearful  series  of  ceremonies,  called  the  Grand  Customs, 
and  occupying  several  days,  take  place  at  the  decease  of  a 
king,  during  which  some  five  hundred  victims  of  both  sexes 
are  said  to  be  sacrificed. 

These  victims  are  not  simple  subjects  of  the  king,  selected 
for  the  sacrifice,  but  are  generally  criminals  or  prisoners  of 
war,  who  are  reserved  for  this  and  other  similar  occasions. 

Being  intended  as  attendants  of  the  late  king,  they  are  well 
treated  as  prisoners,  as  it  would  be  considered  bad  policy  for 
a  king  to  send  to  his  father  a  messenger  who  was  ill-disposed 
toward  him,  for  fear  he  would  give  bad  reports  to  the  dead 
sovereign.  In  spite  of  their  impending  fate,  the  victims  are 
said  to  be  cheerful  and  contented,  and  to  look  upon  the  pre- 
ceding ceremonies  with  manifest  curiosity. 

"  On  the  day  of  the  Grand  Custom  the  king  appears  on  a 
platform,  decorated  according  to  Dahomian  ideas  in  a  most 
gorgeous  manner.  Around  him  are  his  favorite  wives  and 
his  principal  officers,  each  of  the  latter  being  distinguished 
by  his  great  umbrella.  Below  is  a  vast  and  surging  crowd  of 
both  sexes,  wild  with  excitement  and  rum,  and  rending  the 
4 


66          CELEBRATION  OF  THE  GRAND  CUSTOMS. 

air  with  their  yells  of  welcome  to  their  sovereign.  The  cries 
and  yells  gradually  resolve  themselves  into  praises  of  the  king, 
and  appeals  to  his  bounty  : — 

" '  We  are  hungry,  O  King,'  they  cry.  ( Feed  us,  O  King, 
for  we  are  hungry  !' 

"  This  ominous  demand  is  repeated  .with  increasing  fury, 
until  the  vast  crowd  have  lashed  themselves  to  a  pitch  of 
savage  fury,  which  nothing  but  blood  can  appease.  And 
blood  they  have  in  plenty.  The  victims  are  now  brought 
forward,  each  being  gagged  in  order  to  prevent  him  from 
crying  out  to  the  king  for  mercy,  in  which  case  he  must  be 
immediately  released,  and  they  are  firmly  secured  by  being 
lashed  inside  baskets,  so  that  they  can  move  neither  head, 
hand,  nor  foot.  At  the  sight  of  the  victims  the  yells  of  the 
crowd  below  redouble,  and  the  air  is  rent  with  the  cry, 

" '  "We  are  hungry  !     Feed  us,  O  King.' 

"  Presently  the  deafening  yells  are  hushed  into  a  death-like 
.silence,  as  the  king  rises,  and  with  his  own  hand  or  foot 
pushes  one  of  the  victims  off  the  platform  into  the  midst  of 
the  crowd  below.  The  helpless  wretch  falls  into  the  out- 
stretched arms  of  the  eager  crowd.  Sometimes  a  tower 
higher  than  the  platform  is  built,  from  which  the  victims  are 
hurled  to  the  crowd  below." 

The  whole  population  of  Dahomey  proper  has  been  esti- 
mated at  two  hundred  thousand,  and  the  kingdom  is  said  to 
be  rapidly  on  the  wane. 

Easterly  of  Dahomey,  and  between  that  kingdom  and  the 
Niger,  are  the  countries  of  Yoruba  and  Benin,  which,  with 
Dahomey,  occupy  all  the  sea  front  known  as  the  Slave  Coast 
— so  called  from  the  great  number  of  slaves  who  have  been 
shipped  from  this  section. 

Yoruba,  which  adjoins  Dahomey,  is  of  large  area,  and  was 
once  united  under  one  sovereign ;  subsequently  it  was  divided 
into  several  petty  tribes  and  governments.  Its  predominating 
inhabitants  are  now  the  Egbas,  who,  worried  and  threatened 
by  slave  hunters,  established  themselves,  some  forty-five  years 
ago,  at  a  place  distant  from  the  sea  coast,  which  was  afterwards 


THE  BASKET  SACRIFICE. 


ATTACKS  ON  ABEOKUTA*  69 

called  Understone,  or  Abeokuta,  from  a  cavern  where  they 
found  shelter  from  the  slave-hunters.  In  1853  the  population 
was  estimated  at  100,000. 

Abeokuta,  the  capital  of  the  Egbas,  was  watched  with  a 
jealous  eye  "by  the  king  of  Dahomey,  and  in  March  1851,  at 
the  head  of  fifteen  thousand  Dahomian  soldiers,  he  made  a 
desperate  assault  upon  the  place,  but  was  met  with  an  unex- 
pected and  spirited  resistance. 

A  fierce  fight  ensued,  and  the  Dahomians  were  obliged  to 
retreat  with  a  loss  of  about  two  thousand.  The  Amazons 
fought  as  usual  with  great  fury,  and  desperately  defended 
the  king  when  he  was  in  imminent  danger  of  being  taken 
prisoner.  The  Egba  loss  was  comparatively  small,  as  the 
place  was  surrounded  with  several  lines  of  fortifications.  In 
their  emergency,  they  were  trained  to  defend  the  place  by  an 
American  missionary  who  was  residing  there  at  the  time. 

Some  fifteen  years  later  another  Dahomian  army  attacked 
Abeokuta,  and  was  repulsed  with  a  loss  of  four  thousand 
killed,  and  fifteen  hundred  as  prisoners.  They  also  left  behind 
them  their  cannon  and  other  weapons,  and  the  Dahomian 
king  lost  several  of  his  wives  and  daughters,  his  horse,  ward- 
robe, and — worst  of  all — his  carriages.  The  Egba  loss  was 
very  small. 

In  the  prime  of  life  the  Egba  men  are  remarkable  for  their 
fine  forms,  and  the  extreme  ugliness  of  their  features.  They 
have  thick  lips,  and  receding  chins ;  they  tatto  themselves 
profusely,  and  when  in  the  fashion,  dye  their  hands  and  feet 
with  redwood.  Every  man  carries  in  his  hand  a  club  or  knob- 
kerry,  which  is  sometimes  bound  with  wire  arid  studded  with 
nails.  Rings  of  metal  are  worn  on  the  legs,  ankles,  arms, 
etc.,  and  around  the  neck  are  strings  of  beads,  and  other 
ornaments. 

The  forms  of  salutation  at  meeting  are  varied  and  minute. 
"  If  an  inferior  meet  a  superior,  a  son  meet  his  mother,  a 
younger  brother  meet  his  elder,  and  so  on,  an  elaborate  cer- 
emony is  performed.  Any  burden  that  may  be  carried  is 
placed  on  the  ground,  and  the  bearer  proceeds  first  to  kneel 


70  THE  CAPITAL  OF  THE  EGBAS. 

on  all  fours,  then  to  prostrate  himself  fiat  in  the  dust,  rubbing 
the  earth  with  the  forehead  and  each  cheek  alternately.  The 
next  process  is  to  kiss  the  ground,  and  this  ceremony  is  fol- 
lowed by  passing  each  hand  down  the  opposite  arm.  The 
dust  is  again  kissed,  and  not  until  then  does  the  saluter  resume 
his  feet. 

"  This  salutation  is  only  perf  ormed  once  daily  to  the  same 
person;  but  as  almost  every  one  knows  every  one  whom  he 
meets,  and  as  one  of  them  must  of  necessity  be  inferior  to  the 
other,  a  vast  amount  of  salutation  has  to  be  got  through  in 
the  course  of  a  day.  Sometimes  two  men  meet  who  are  nearly 
equal,  and  in  such  a  case  both  squat  on  the  ground,  and  snap 
their  fingers." 

The  houses  in  Abeokuta  are  of  tempered  mud  covered 
with  roofs  of  thatch.  The  rooms  are  windowless,  and  kept 
dark  to  keep  out  the  sun.  The  furniture  consists  of  rude 
cots,  benches,  earthen  pots,  plates,  old  weapons,  and  some- 
times an  old  musket.  There  is  generally  but  one  outside 
door,  and  that  has  charms  suspended  over  it. 

In  human  sacrifice  it  is  believed  the  Egbas  follow  the  prac- 
tices of  the  Dahomians,  though  on  a  much  smaller  scale ;  and 
they  are  more  reticent  on  the  subject.  Yictims  are  sacrificed 
when  a  great  man  dies,  and  are  supposed  to  become  his  attend- 
ants in  the  spirit  world. 

"  The  chief  of  the  Egbas  is  known  by  the  name  of  the 
Alake.  He  does  not  reign  supreme,  like  the  King  of  Da- 
home  or  Ashanti,  before  whom  the  highest  in  the  realm  pros- 
trate themselves  and  roll  humbly  in  the  dust.  He  is  tram- 
meled with  a  number  of  counselors  and  officers,  and  with  a 
sort  of  parliament  called  the  Bale,  which  is  composed  of  the 
head  men  or  chiefs  of  the  various  towns. 

"  Okekunu,  the  Alake  at  the  time  when  Captain  Burton 
lived  in  Abeokuta,  was  an  ill-favored,  petulent,  and  cunning 
old  ruler.  In  his  way,  he  was  fond  of  state,  and  delighted  to 
exhibit  his  power. 

"  If  he  goes  to  pay  a  visit,  he  must  needs  do  so  under  a 
huge  pink  umbrella,  at  the  end  of  a  motley  procession.  At 


THE  ALAKE.  73 

the  head  is  carried  the  sacred  emblem  of  royalty,  a  wooden 
stool  covered  with  coarse  red  serge,  which  is  surrounded  by 
a  number  of  chiefs,  who  pay  the  greatest  attention  to  it.  A 
long  train  of  ragged  swordsmen  followed ;  and  last  came  the 
Alake,  clothed  in  a  "  Guinea-fowl "  shirt — a  spotted  article 
of  some  value — and  a  great  red  velvet  robe  under  which  he 
tottered  along  with  much  difficulty.  He  wears  trousers  of 
good  purple  velvet  with  a  stripe  of  gold  tinsel,  and  on  his 
feet  are  huge  slippers,  edged  with  monkey  skin. 

"  On  his  head  he  wears  a  sort  of  fez  cap  of  crimson  velvet, 
the  effect  of  which  is  ruined  by  a  number  of  blue  beads  hung 
fringe-wise  round  the  top.  The  string  of  red  coral  beads  hangs 
round  the  neck,  and  a  double  bracelet  of  the  same  material  is 
wound  upon  each  wrist. 

"  When  he  receives  a  visitor,  he  displays  his  grandeur  by 
making  his  visitors  wait  for  a  time  proportionate  to  their 
rank ;  but  in  case  they  should  be  of  great  consequence,  he 
alleviates  the  tediousness  of  the  time  by  sending  them  rum 
and  gin,  both  of  the  very  worst  quality. 

"  To  a  stranger,  the  palace  presents  a  mean  and  ugly  appear- 
ance. It  is  a  tumble-down,  long  and  rambling,  and  has 
several  courts.  The  veranda,  or  antechamber,  is  filled  with 
the  great  men  of  Abeokuta,  and  they  are  the  most  villanous- 
looking  set  of  men  that  can  well  be  conceived. 

"Their  skulls  were  depressed  in  front,  and  projecting 
cocoa-nut-like  behind ;  the  absence  of  beards,  the  hideous  lines 
and  wrinkles  that  seared  and  furrowed  the  external  parch- 
ment, and  the  cold,  unrelenting  cruelty  of  their  physiognomy 
in  repose,  suggested  the  idea  of  the  eunuch  torturers  over  so 
common  in  Asia.  One  was  sure  that  for  pity  or  mercy  it 
would  be  as  well  to  address  a  wounded  mandril.  The  atroc- 
ities which  these  ancients  have  witnessed,  and  the  passion 
which  they  have  acquired  for  horrors,  must  have  set  the  mark 
of  the  beast  upon  their  brows. 

"  Though  the  assemblage  consisted  of  the  richest  men  of 
the  Egbas,  not  a  vestige  of  splendor  or  wealth  appeared  about 
any  of  them,  the  entire  clothing  of  the  most  powerful  among 


74  THE  MOUTHS  OF  THE  NIGER. 

them  being  under  sixpence  in  value.     In  fact,  they  dare  not 
exhibit  wealth,  as  it  would  be  confiscated  if  they  did  so." 

In  the  year  1822,  an  Egba  boy,  named  Ajai,  was  sent  off 
as  a  slave  in  a  slaver,  which  was  captured  by  a  government 
vessel,  and  sent  to  Sierra  Leone.  Here  Ajai  received  a  good 
education,  embraced  Christianity,  and  was  subsequently 
ordained  as  a  priest  in  the  Church  of  England.  His  influence 
gradually  extended,  and  he  is  now  known  as  the  Right  Hev. 
Samuel  Crowther,  D.D.,  Lord  Bishop  of  the  Niger. 

Benin,  situated  on  the  Gulf  of  Benin,  was  discovered  by  the 
Portuguese  in  1845.  Soon  afterwards  Fernando  Po,  after 
discovering  the  island  which  bears  his  name,  founded  a 
Portuguese  settlement  on  the  Benin  River  at  a  place  called 
Gaton.  Here  a  Catholic  Church  was  established,  which  soon 
had  a  thousand  members.  At  a  later  period  the  King  of 
Benin  promised  his  influence  to  the  missionaries,  if  they 
would  furnish  him  with  a  white  wife,  and  one  of  the  sister- 
hood who  resided  at  the  Island  of  St.  Thomas  consented  to 
become  the  Queen  of  Benin,  and  was  married  to  the  sable 
monarch. 

The  traveler  by  sea,  on  leaving  Lagos  to  sail  southerly, 
leaves  behind  all  signs  of  civilization,  and  passes  long  stretches 
of  flat  unhealthy  looking  shores.  Then  river  after  river 
Opens  before  him — the  many  mouths  by  which  the  fatal 
Niger  pours  its  dark  waters  into  the  sea.  The  mouth  of  the 
Niger  is  no  longer  a  mystery,  but  many  brave  men  perished 
before  the  problem  was  solved. 

Ascending  the  Bonny  River,  once  a  great  slave-ship  harbor, 
but  now  the  outlet  of  the  palm-oil  trade,  the  traveler  reaches 
Bonny,  to  which  place  the  oil  is  brought  from  the  interior  in 
calabashes.  It  is  then  put  in  barrels  and  shipped.  This 
place  is  the  residence  of  the  King  of  Bonny  who  visited  Eng- 
land in  1857,  where  he  persuaded  a  number  of  Englishmen 
to  return  with  him  as  his  suite,  promising  them  large  salaries 
and  high  rank.  But  they  found  that  the  city  of  Bonny  con- 
sisted of  huts  located  on  a  mud  flat,  and  that  the  "  palace  " 
was  two  or  three  huts  surrounded  by  a  mud  wall. 


BONNY  AND  KING  PEPPEL.  75 

When  Mr.  Reade  visited  Bonny,  he  found  King  Peppel 
seated  in  one  of  these  huts  with  a  pile  of  old  crockery  behind 
him,  and  before  him  a  calabash  of  dog-stew  and  palaver  sauce ; 
and  this,  notwithstanding  he  had  lived  in  England,  where 
he  became  religious,  was  baptized,  and  joined  a  temperance 
society. 

"  The  architecture  of  Bonny  country  is  not  very  elaborate, 
being  composed  of  swish  and  wattle,  supported  by  posts. 
The  floors  and  walls  are  of  mud,  which  can  be  obtained  in 
any  amount ;  the  roofs  are  very  high,  and  the  gables  very 
sharp. 

"  The  Ju-ju  room  is  a  necessary  adjunct  to  every  Bonny 
house,  and  within  it  is  the  fetish,  or  ju-ju,  which  is  the  guard- 
ian of  the  house.  The  negro  contrives  to  utilize  the  ju-ju 
room,  making  it  a  store-house  for  his  most  valued  property, 
such  as  cowries  or  rum,  knowing  that  no  one  will  touch  it  in 
so  sacred  a  place.  As  to  the  ju-ju  itself,  anything  answers 
the  purpose,  and  an  Englishman  is  sometimes  troubled  to 
preserve  his  gravity,  when  he  sees  a  page  of  Punch,  a  crib- 
bage  peg,  a  pill-box,  or  a  pair  of  braces,  doing  duty  as  the 
household  god  of  the  establishment." 

It  is  generally  believed  that  the  people  of  Bonny  are  can- 
nibals; at  all  events  they  once  were,  and  Dr.  Hutchinson 
witnessed  there  a  scene  of  cannibalism.  "All  over  the 
country  the  traveler  comes  upon  scenes  of  blood,  pain,  and 
suffering.  There  is  hardly  a  village  where  he  does  not  come 
upon  animals  tied  in  some  agonizing  position  and  left  to  die 
there." 

Lower  Guinea,  extending  along  the  coast  from  the  Cam- 
eroon Mountains  to  Avampo-land,  is  usually  divided  into  five 
districts,  viz. : — the  Pongo  or  Gaboon  Coast,  extending  3°  be- 
low the  Equator ;  Loango,  extending  to  the  Congo  River ; 
Congo  lying  between  the  Congo  and  Ambriz  Rivers ;  Ango- 
la, through  which  Livingstone  traveled  in  going  to  its  capital, 
Loanda,  on  the  sea  coast ;  and  Benguela,  through  which  Magyar 
traveled  on  his  journey  to  the  Kingdom  of  Bihe.  The  interior 


76  LOWER  GUINEA— NEGRO  SUPERSTITIONS. 

easterly  of  Lower  Guinea  is  mostly  an  unexplored  region  of 
which  little  is  known. 

That  portion  of  Lower  Guinea  nortli  of  the  Equator  is  oc- 
cupied by  the  Mpongwe,  Shekiani  and  other  tribes,  including 
the  Fans  who  live  on  the  easterly  limits  of  the  Gaboon  Hiver. 
South  of  the  Equator  are  the  Ishogo,  Ashango,  Obongo,  Ap- 
ongo,  Bakalai,  Ashira,  Camma,  and  other  scattering  negro 
tribes,  having  many  similar  characteristics. 

These  tribes  are  very  superstitious,  and  have  many  singular 
customs  and  ceremonies.  The  Mpongwe,  when  the  old  King 
dies,  secretly  choose  a  new  one,  who  perhaps  has  no  idea  of 
the  honors  awaiting  him,  until  at  a  given  signal  all  the  people 
make  a  furious  rush  at  him,  and  insult  him  in  the  grossest 
manner.  One  throws  mud  in  his  face,  another  kicks  him,  and 
a  third  one  slaps  his  face,  and  others  pelt  him  with  sticks  and 
stones,  until  his  life  seems  to  be  worthless ;  his  parents,  and 
other  relatives  are  treated  in  the  same  way. 

Suddenly  the  tumult  ceases,  and  the  new  King  is  led  into 
the  house  of  his  predecessor ;  silent  respect  takes  the  place  of 
frantic  violence.  The  head  men  of  the  tribe  rise  and  say, 
"  now  we  acknowledge  you  as  our  King,"  and  the  crown  and 
royal  robes  are  brought.  The  crown  consists  of  an  old  silk 
hat,  and  the  robes  of  a  red  dressing-gown. 

Among  the  Ishogo's  there  is  a  remarkable  custom  connect- 
ed with  the  birth  of  twins ;  a  hut  is  set  apart  for  the  family, 
and  it  is  said  that  for  six  years  the  mother  is  not  allowed  to 
speak  to  any  one  but  her  own  family,  and  the  twins  are  not 
allowed  to  play  with  other  children. 

At  the  expiration  of  the  sixth  year  a  ceremony  takes  place 
by  which  all  parties  are  released  from  their  long  confinement, 
and  allowed  to  enter  the  society  of  their  fellows.  At  day- 
break proclamation  is  made  in  the  street,  and  the  mother  and 
a  friend  take  their  stand  at  the  door  of  the  hut,  having  pre- 
viously whitened  their  legs  and  faces.  They  next  march  slowly 
down  the  village,  beating  a  drum  in  time  to  the  step,  and 
singing  an  appropriate  song.  A  general  dance  and  feast  then 
takes  place,  wrhich  last  throughout  the  night. 


MUMBO  JUMBO.  79 

Mumbo  Jumbo  is  the  name  of  a  semi-lmman  demon,  who 
is  much  feared  by  the  women  of  the  "West  Coast.  His  dress 
hangs  on  a  tree  near  the  entrance  of  every  village,  and  con- 
sists of  pieces  of  bark  sown  together  in  the  shape  of  a  large 
cask,  with  a  hole  at  the  top  for  the  head  and  one  on  each  side 
for  the  arms.  There  is  also  a  fantastic  and  hideous  mask 
hung  beside  it.  When  a  woman  is  ugly  or  displeases  her  hus- 
band, he,  or  some  other  man  at  his  request,  impersonih'es 
Mumbo  Jumbo  and  puts  on  his  dress. 

"  At  night  the  people  assemble  as  usual  to  sing  and  dance, 
when  suddenly  faint  distant  howlings  are  heard  in  the  woods. 
This  is  the  cry  of  Mumbo  Jumbo,  and  all  the  women  feel  hor- 
ribly frightened,  though  they  are  obliged  to  pretend  to  be  de- 
lighted. The  cries  are  heard  nearer  and  nearer,  and  at  last 
Mumbo  Jumbo  himself,  followed  by  a  number  of  attendants 
armed  with  sticks,  and  clothed  in  the  dress  which  is  kept  for 
his  use,  appears  in  the  noisy  circle,  carrying  a  rod  in  his  hand. 
He  is  loudly  welcomed,  and  the  song  and  dance  goes  on 
around  him  with  delight.  Suddenly,  Mumbo  Jumbo  walks 
up  to  one  of  the  women  and  touches  her  with  his  rod.  His 
attendants  instantly  seize  the  unfortunate  woman,  tear  off 
all  her  clothes,  drag  her  to  a  post  which  is  always  kept  for 
such  occasions,  tie  her  to  it,  and  inflict  a  terrible  beating  on 
her." 

Congo,  is  a  celebrated  kingdom  of  the  "West  Coast  and, 
according  to  tradition,  has  twice  risen  to  great  eminence.  Its 
king  is  a  despot,  though  secretly  controlled  by  his  ministers. 
Considerable  of  his  revenue  is  derived  by  a  tax  on  beds, 
which  is  assessed  according  to  their  width. 

The  Congoese  believe  in  a  Supreme  Creator,  and  in  a  host 
of  lesser  divinities.  These  last  are  represented  by  images 
which  have  their  temples  and  priests. 

The  chief  priest  is  called  the  Chitome,  and  is  scarcely  less 
honored  than  the  king,  whose  coronation  he  always  conducts. 
"  The  new  ruler  proceeds  to  the  house  of  the  Chitome, 
attended  by  a  host  of  his  future  subjects  who  utter  piercing 
yells  as  he  goes.  Having  reached  the  sacred  house,  he  kneels 


80  CONGO  AND  THE  CONGOESE. 

before  the  door,  and  asks  the  Chitome  to  be  gracious  to  him. 
The  Chitome  growls  out  a  flat  refusal  from  within.  The 
king  renews  his  supplications,  in  spite  of  repeated  rebuffs, 
enumerating  all  the  presents  which  he  has  brought  the  Chi- 
tome— which  presents,  are  easily  made,  as  he  will^  extort  an 
equal  amount  from  his  subjects  as  soon  as  he  is  fairly  installed. 

"  At  last,  the  door  of  the  hut  opens,  and  out  comes  the 
Chitome  in  his  white  robe  of  office,  his  head  covered  with 
feathers,  and  a  shining  mirror  on  his  breast.  The  king  lies 
prostrate  before  the  house,  while  the  Chitome  pours  water 
on  him,  scatters  dust  over  him,  and  sets  his  feet  on  him. 
He  then  lies  flat  on  the  prostrate  monarch,  and  in  that  posi- 
tion receives  from  him  a  promise  to  respect  his  authority 
ever  afterwards.  The  king  is  then  proclaimed,  and  retires  to 
wash  and  change  his  clothes. 

"Presently  he  comes  out  of  the  palace,  attended  by  his 
priests  and  nobles,  gorgeous  in  all  the  bravery  of  his  new 
rank,  his  whole  person  covered  with  glittering  ornaments  of 
rnetal,  glass  and  stone  so  that  the  eye  can  scarcely  bear  the 
rays  that  flash  on  every  side  as  he  moves  in  the  sunbeams. 
He  then  seats  himself,  and  makes  a  speech  to  the  people. 
When  it  is  finished,  he  rises,  while  all  the  people  crouch  to 
the  ground,  stretches  his  hands  over  them,  and  makes  certain 
prescribed  gestures,  which  are  considered  as  the  royal  bene- 
diction. A  long  series  of  banquets  and  revelry  ends  the 
proceedings." 

The  Chitome  has  things  pretty  much  his  own  way,  with 
one  exception.  It  is  believed  that  if  he  dies  a  natural  death 
the  universe  will  immediately  dissolve ;  accordingly  when  he 
falls  dangerously  ill,  the  priest  who  has  been  appointed  as 
his  successor  enters  his  house,  and  beats  out  his  brains  with  a 
club  or  strangles  him  with  a  bow-string. 

The  people  of  Congo  are  a  very  indolent  race ;  the  women 
are  made  to  do  all  the  work,  while  the  men  lie  in  the  shade 
and  smoke  their  pipes  and  drink  palm-wine.  Their  houses 
are  huts  of  posts  and  twigs  woven  together,  and  their  cloth- 
ing is  as  simple  as  their  habitations. 


THE  OVAMBO— A  QUEER  DANCE.  81 

Passing  southward  down  the  western  coast  to  about  18° 
South  latitude,  we  find  the  Ovambo  tribe  ;  their  name  signify- 
ing "  The  merry  people."  They  are  remarkable  for  their 
good  qualities,  among  which  is  honesty.  Theft  is  a  recog- 
nized crime,  punished  with  death.  Stealing  is  almost 
unknown  among  them.  They  are  kind  arid  attentive  to  their 
sick  and  aged,  and  pauperism  is  not  found  with  them ;  in 
fact,  this  people  show  a  moral  development  far  in  advance  of 
most  African  races.  Yet  in  many  respects  they  are  like  other 
tribes  around  them. 

The  Ovambos  are  allowed  as  many  wives  as  they  can  pay 
for ;  the  price  being  about  two  oxen  and  one  cow  each. 

They  are  fond  of  amusing  themselves  with  a  dance  which 
seems  to  be  exceedingly  agreeable  to  the  performers,  but 
which  could  not  be  engaged  in  by  those  who  were  not  well 
practised  in  its  odd  evolutions.  The  dancers  are  all  men  and 
stand  in  a  double  row,  back  to  back.  The  music,  consisting 
of  a  drum  and  a  kind  of  guitar,  then  strikes  up,  and  the  per- 
formers begin  to  move  forward  from  side  to  side,  so  as  to 
pass  and  repass  each  other.  Suddenly,  one  of  the  performers 
spins  round,  and  delivers  a  tremendous  kick  at  the  individual 
who  happens  then  to  be  in  front  of  him ;  and  the  gist  of  the 
dance  consists  in  planting  your  own  kick  and  avoiding  that  of 
others. 

Mr.  Anderssen,  while  traveling  in  the  land  of  the  Ovam- 
bos, was  hospitably  received  at  a  house,  and  incited  to  din- 
ner. No  spoons  were  provided,  and  he  did  not  see  how  he 
was  to  eat  porridge  and  milk  without  such  aid.  On  seeing 
the  dilemma  he  was  in,  his  host  quickly  plunged  his  greasy 
fingers  into  the  middle  steaming  mass,  and  brought  out  a  hand- 
ful, which  he  dashed  into  the  milk.  Having  stirred  it  quickly 
round  with  all  his  might,  he  next  opened  his  capacious  mouth, 
in  which  the  agreeable  mixture  vanished  as  if  by  magic.  He 
finally  licked  his  fingers,  and  smacked  his  lips  with  evident 
satisfaction,  looking  as  much  as  to  say,  l  That's  the  trick,  my 
boys!" 

Mr.  Anderssen  also  tells  us  of  the  King  sending  him  a  fire- 


82  THE  DAMARA— A  DOUBTFUL  TRADITIOX. 

brand,  the  bearer  extinguishing  the  traveler's  fire  then  burn- 
ing, and  rekindling  it  with  his  own  brand,  so  that  the  King 
and  his  visitor  might  warm  themselves  by  the  same  fire. 
Quite  a  poetical  idea  for  a  savage. 

The  Ovambos  are  well  formed,  particularly  the  females, 
and  were  it  not  for  the  tribal  disfigurement  of  their  faces  they 
would  possess  some  beauty.  We  are  able  to  give  a  sketch  of 
two  Ovambo  girls  aged  about  fourteen  years,  which  was 
taken  among  them,  giving  true  portraits. 

South  of  and  adjoining  the  Ovambo  land,  lives  a  tribe  called 
The  Damara,  which  signifies  "  The  People."  Who  they 
originally  wrere,  how  long  they  have  occupied  the  land, 
and  the  place  where  they  originally  came  from,  are  rather 
dubious,  and  they  themselves  can  throw  no  light  on  the 
subject. 

The  tribe  is  a  very  interesting  one.  Once  of  great  power 
and  importance,  it  spread  over  a  vast  tract  of  country,  and 
developed  its  own  peculiar  manners  and  customs,  some  of 
which,  as  will  be  seen,  are  most  remarkable.  Its  day  of  pros- 
perity was,  however,  but  a  short  one,  as  is  the  case  with  most 
tribes  in  this  part  of  the  world.  It  has  rapidly  sunk  from  its 
high  estate,  has  suffered  from  the  attacks  of  powerful  and 
relentless  enemies,  and  in  a  few  more  years  will  probably  per- 
ish off  the  face  of  the  earth. 

"  As  far  as  can  be  ascertained,  the  aborigines  were  a  race 
called,  even  by  themselves,  the  Ghou  Damup — a  name  quite 
untranslatable  to  ears  polite,  and  therefore  euphonized  by  the 
colonists  into  Hill  Damaras,  though  in  reality  there  is  no  con- 
nexion between  them.  The  Ghou  Damup  say  that  their 
great  ancestor  was  a  baboon,  who  married  a  native  lady,  and 
had  a  numerous  progeny.  The  union,  however,  like  most 
unequal  matches,  was  not  a  happy  one,  the  mother  priding 
herself  on  her  family,  and  twitting  her  sons  with  their  low 
connexions  on  the  paternal  side.  The  end  of  the  matter  was, 
that  a  split  took  place  in  the  family,  the  sons  behaving  so 
badly  that  they  dared  no  longer  face  their  high-born  Hotten- 


EUROPEAN  SETTLEMENTS  AND  ADJOINING  TRIBES.  85 

tot  connexions,  and  fled  to  the  hills,  where  they  have  ever 
since  dwelt. 

This  race  are  not  warlike,  although  stalwart  and  strong. 
The  effeminacy  of  their  weapons  renders  them  unable  to  cope 
with  other  warlike  tribes. 

"We  give  portraits  of  an  armed  Damara  and  his  wife. 

The  European  settlements  known  as  Natal  and  Cape  Colo- 
ny occupy  the  extremity  of  the  continent,  and  extend  up  its 
eastern  coast  to  about  28°  S.  Lat.  Most  of  the  inhabitants 
of  the  large  towns  are  English,  while  back  from  the  coast  we 
find  many  Dutch  settlements.  The  description  of  these  col- 
onies will  appear  in  other  chapters. 

The  space  north  and  west  of  these  settlements  and  south 
of  the  Zambesi  Biver,  is  inhabited  by  many  of  the  most 
prominent  tribes  of  Africa.  Among  them  are  the  Hottentots, 
Bushman,  Bechuauas,  Korannas,  Kaffirs,  etc.  As  the  home  of 
the  latter  adjoins  Natal  Colony,  and  many  reside  within  its 
limits,  the  reader  will  find  a  minute  description  of  this  race  in 
the  chapter  on  that  colony,  and  in  the  one  succeeding  it.  In  Dr. 
Livingstone's  travels  will  be  found  full  descriptions  of  most 
of  the  other  tribes  above  mentioned,  and  many  of  those 
living  north  of  and  upon  the  Zambesi  and  its  tributaries,  as 
well  as  of  the  Belonda  and  other  tribes  found  west  of  the 
head  waters  of  that  river,  and  which  he  passed  through  on 
his  route  to  the  Atlantic  coast.  In  the  chapters  describing 
his  journeyings,  much  space  has  been  devoted  to  the  habits 
and  customs  of  each  of  these  tribes.  These,  read  in  connec- 
tion with  the  personal  adventures  of  the  brave  explorer,  will 
be  more  interesting  than  if  given  alone. 

Many  of  the  tribes  will  therefore  only  be  mentioned  here 
in  connection  with  their  locality,  and  a  fuller  notice  be 
restricted  to  those  tribes  not  so  fully  described  elsewhere  in 
the  book. 

The  Koranuas  or  Korans  are  found  on  the  banks  of  the 
Narb  and  Yaal  Rivers,  directly  west  of  Natal.  They  are 
offshoots  of  the  Hottentot  tribe.  The  Namaquas  are  also 
members  of  the  same  race,  and  occupy  a  section  north  of  the 


86  THE  WOMAN  AND  THE  LION. 

Orange  Elver.  This  people  are  very  superstitious.  They 
claim  their  sorcerers  have  the  power  of  voluntary  transmi- 
gration, and  their  followers  implicitly  believe  that  they  can 
assume  the  form  of  any  beast  which  they  choose  to  select. 

"  Sir  J.  E.  Alexander  narrates  the  following  legend  in  sup- 
port of  this  statement.  '  Once  on  a  time  a  certain  Namaqua 
was  traveling  in  company  with  a  woman  carrying  a  child 
upon  her  back.  They  had  proceeded  some  distance  on  their 
journey  when  a  troop  of  wild  horses  (zebras)  appeared,  and 
the  man  said  to  the  woman,  *  I  am  hungry,  and  as  I  know 
you  can  turn  yourself  into  a  lion,  do  so  now,  and  catch  us  a 
wild  horse,  that  we  may  eat.'  The  woman  answered,  '  You 
will  be  afraid.' 

" '  No,  no,'  said  the  man,  '  I  am  afraid  of  dying  of  hunger, 
but  not  of  you.' 

"  "Whilst  he  was  speaking,  hair  began  to  appear  at  the  back 
of  the  woman's  neck,  her  nails  assumed  the  appearance  of 
claws,  and  her  features  altered.  She  set  down  the  child. 

"  The  man,  alarmed  at  the  change,  climbed  up  a  tree  close 
by,  while  the  woman  glared  at  him  fearfully ;  and  going  to 
one  side,  she  threw  off  her  skin  petticoat,  when  a  perfect  lion 
rushed  out  into  the  plain.  It  bounded  and  crept  among  the 
bushes  towards  the  wild  horses,  and,  springing  on  one  of 
them,  it  fell,  and  the  lion  lapped  its  blood.  The  lion  then 
came  back  to  the  place  where  the  child  was  crying,  and  the 
man  called  from  the  tree,  '  Enough !  enough !  Do  not  hurt 
me.  Put  off  your  lion's  shape.  I  will  never  ask  to  see  this 
again.' 

"  The  lion  looked  at  him  and  growled.  '  I'll  remain  here 
till  I  die !'  exclaimed  the  man,  '  if  you  do  not  become  a  wo- 
man again.'  The  mane  and  tail  began  to  disappear,  the  lion 
went  towards  the  bush  where  the  skin  petticoat  lay  ;  it  was 
slipped  on,  and  the  woman  in  her  proper  shape  took  up  the 
child.  The  man  descended,  partook  of  the  horse's  flesh,  but 
never  again  asked  the  woman  to  catch  game  for  him." 

One  very  curious  custom  prevails  among  the  Namaquas. 
Those  who  visit  them  are  expected  to  adopt  a  father  and 


A  MOST  VALIANT  TRIBE.  87 

mother,  and  the  newly  made  relations  are  supposed  to  have 
their  property  in  common.  This  is  probably  a  native  prac- 
tice, but  the  Namaquas  have  had  no  scruples  in  extending  it 
to  Europeans,  finding  that  in  such  cases  a  community  of  goods 
becomes  rather  a  lucrative  speculation. 

The  Bechuana  tribe  is  a  very  large  and  powerful  one  occu- 
pying a  vast  section  of  country  reaching  from  the  Yaal  on  the 
south  to  the  Zambesi  on  the  north.  The  Barolongs,  Batlapis, 
and  Bahurotsi,  and  many  others  belong  to  the  Bechuana 
tribe. 

The  great  Mokololo  Tribe  live  principally  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  the  Zambesi  Kiver.  The  Bay  eye  and  Makota  tribes  are 
found  about  Lake  Ngami.  The  former  have  been  conquered 
by  their  neighbors  and  reduced  to  serfdom. 

They  attribute  their  defeat  to  the  want  of  shields,  though 
the  superior  discipline  of  their  enemies  had  probably  more  to 
do  with  their  victory  than  the  mere  fact  of  possessing  a  shield. 

On  one  notable  occasion,  the  Bayeye  proved  conclusively 
that  the  shield  does  not  make  the  warrior.  Their  chief  had 
taken  the  trouble  to  furnish  them  with  shields,  hoping  to 
make  soldiers  of  them.  They  received  the  gift  with  great 
joy,  and  loudly  boasted  of  the  prowess  which  they  were 
going  to  show.  Unfortunately  for  them,  a  marauding  party 
of  the  Makololo  came  in  sight,  when  the  valiant  warriors  for- 
got all  about  their  shields,  jumped  into  their  canoes,  and  pad- 
dled away  day  and  night  down  the  river,  until  they  had  put 
a  hundred  miles  or  so  between  them  and  the  dangerous  spot. 

They  are  amusing  and  cheerful  creatures,  and  as  arrant 
thieves  and  liars  as  can  well  be  found.  If  they  can  only  have 
a  pot  on  the  fire  full  of  meat,  and  a  pipe,  their  happiness 
seems  complete,  and  they  will  feast,  dance,  sing,  smoke,  and 
tell  anecdotes  all  night  long. 

Of  the  Makoba  was  the  noted  chief  M'  Bobo  who  rendered 
some  service  to  Messrs.  Baines  and  Chapman,  and  so  also  was 
Makata  a  noted  hunter.  This  tribe  are  all  famous  for  hunt- 
ing the  hippopotamus.  Dr.  Livingstone  and  other  explorers 
have  had  unpleasant  experiences  with  this  people. 


HOTTENTOTS  AND  BUSHMEN. 

The  Batoka  occupy  the  low  lands  along  the  banks  of  the 
Zambesi  and  its  tributaries.  The  Manganjas  are  found  on 
the  river  Shire  a  tributary  of  the  Zambesi.  The  Banyai  or 
Badema  tribes  also  inhabit  the  neighborhood  of  the  Zambesi. 

About  three  centuries  ago,  the  whole  of  Southern  Africa 
was  inhabited  by  various  tribes  belonging  to  a  large  and  power- 
ful nation.  This  nation,  now  known  collectively  under  the 
name  of  Hottentot,  was  at  that  time  the  owner  and  master 
of  the  land,  of  which  it  had  held  possession  for  a  considerable 
period.  Whether  or  not  the  Hottentots  were  the  aboriginal 
inhabitants  of  Southern  Africa,  is  rather  doubtful ;  but  the 
probability  is,  that  they  came  from  a  distant  source,  and  that 
they  dispossessed  the  aborigines,  exactly  as  they  themselves 
were  afterwards  ejected  by  the  Kaffirs,  and  the  Kaffirs  sup- 
planted by  the  Europeans. 

The  Hottentots  inhabit  the  country  north  of  and  adjoining 
Cape  Colony  and  differ  essentiallj-  from  most  of  the  other 
tribes.  Their  skin  is  light  as  the  Chinese,  and  the  general  sim- 
ilitude between  the  nations  is  remarkable.  They  are  bitter 
foes  to  the  Kaffir  tribe  although  their  customs  are  somewhat  sim- 
ilar. Our  illustration  of  a  Hottentot  Kraal,  shows  well  their 
mode  of  life. 

"  No  one — not  even  the  owner — knows,  on  seeing  a  Hot- 
tentot hut,  whether  he  will  find  it  in  the  same  place  after  a 
few  hours  have  elapsed.  Sometimes,  a  Hottentot  wife  will 
set  to  work,  pull  the  hut  to  pieces,  but,  instead  of  packing  it 
on  the  back  of  an  ox,  rebuild  her  house  within  twenty  or 
thirty  yards  of  its  original  locality.  The  object  of  this  strange 
conduct  is  to  rid  herself  and  family  from  the  fleas,  which, 
together  with  other  vermin,  swarm  in  a  Hottentot's  home. 

The  Bushman  also  live  in  close  proximity  to  Cape  Colony. 
They  are  a  low  degraded  people,  who  live  in  wretched  bush- 
camps,  and  lead  a  nomad  life.  Several  of  these  men  accom- 
panied Dr.  Livingstone  on  some  of  his  long  journies. 

A  description  of  the  tribes  living  in  Central  Africa  near 
the  equator,  will  be  fully  given  in  chapters  relating  to  explor^ 
ations  in  that  section. 


HOTTENTOT  KKAAL. 


CHAPTER  IY. 
AFKICAN  EXPLOKATIONS. 

Q1  LOWLY  but  steadily,  the  exploration  of  Africa  goes  on. 
O  Many  travelers  have  perished,  victims  to  their  zeal ;  but  the 
thirst  for  discovery  is  not  quenched,  and  new  recruits  are 
entering  the  field,  and  enlarging  yearly  the  sphere  of  our 
knowledge. 

'Of  the  ancient  attempts  to  explore  Africa  we  have  little 
information  that  can  be  relied  on.  There  were  Phosnician 
settlements  on  the  northern  coasts,  three  thousand  years  ago, 
and  Egypt  is  one  of  the  oldest  of  nations.  But  it  is  not 
certain  that  they  had  much  knowledge  of  the  interior,  though 
the  old  geographers  speculated  considerably  about  the  origin 
of  the  Nile,  and  the  river  Niger  was  a  matter  of  interest  to 
them. 

But  generally,  the  interior  was  thought  of  as  a  vast  burning 
plain,  without  vegetation,  and  without  inhabitants,  or,  as  peo- 
pled with  men  endowed  with  strange  attributes  ;  the  singular 
stories  thus  originating  were  handed  down  to  later  times  There 
were,  in  the  second  century,  Christian  churches  established  in 
the  northern  part,  where  are  now  the  Barbary  States,  and  in 
times  of  persecution,  the  Christians  fled  into  the  desert ;  but 
we  have  very  little  additional  information  from  this  source. 

It  was  not  till  the  invasion  by  the  Arabs  in  the  seventh 
century  that  the  darkness  began  to  be  really  dispelled.  Tak- 
ing possession  of  the  region  north  of  the  desert,  they  were 
able  by  means  of  the  camel  to  penetrate  south,  and  hold  inter- 
course with  the  negro  tribes  that  lived  along  the  southern  bor- 

0  t/1 


92  EARLY  PORTUGUESE  EXPLORERS, 

der.  In  consequence  of  this  influx  of  the  Arabs,  the  religion 
of  Mohammed  became  diffused  among  these  tribes,  and  is 
found,  more  or  less  corrupted,  to  this  day,  over  a  very  wide 
region  of  Central  Africa.  There  was  also  a  mixture  of  Arab 
and  negro  blood,  by  which  the  characteristics  of  the  native  races 
were  much  modified,  and  their  general  condition  improved. 

Modern  European  discovery  may  be  said  to  date  from  the 
fifteenth  century.  At  this  period  the  Portuguese  were  among 
the  most  adventurous  explorers.  They  sailed,  in  this  cen- 
tury, along  the  western  coast,  going  each  voyage  farther  and 
farther  south,  till  in  1497,  Vasco  De  Gaina  doubled  the  Cape 
of  Good  Hope,  and  sailed  up  on  the  eastern  side.  Then  the 
shape  and  outline  of  this  great  continent  was  known,  but  no 
travelers  had  yet  penetrated  its  dark  wilds. 

The  Portuguese,  while  prosecuting  these  discoveries  along 
the  western  coast,  attempted  at  certain  points  along  the  Gulf 
of  Guinea,  to  establish  commercial  relations  with  the  natives, 
and  formed  settlements  for  this  purpose.  So,  also,  the  zeal 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  church  led  it  to  form  missionary  set-' 
tlements.  After  the  slave  trade  begun,  other  European 
nations  hastened  to  occupy  stations  on  the  same  coast.  In 
this  way  something  was  learned  of  the  interior,  but  the  slave 
traders  cared  more  for  their  profits  than  for  the  interests  of 
discovery  ;  nor  was  much  of  geographical  knowledge  gained 
by  the  missionaries. 

It  was  in  1788,  that  the  Royal  Geographical  Society  of 
Great  Britain  was  formed,  and  the  real  work  of  African 
exploration  began.  The  first  travelers  it  sent  forth  were  cut 
off  by  death.  The  next  was  the  famous  Mungo  Park,  who 
reached  Africa  in  1795,  and  whose  travels  are  read  with  great 
interest  even  to  this  day.  He  discovered  the  2s  iger,  and  sev- 
eral large  trading  cities  in  the  interior,  and  returned  in  safety. 
But  in  1805,  making  a  second  attempt,  although  lie  again 
reached  the  Niger  in  safety,  he  was  attacked  on  the  river, 
and,  endeavoring  to  escape  by  swimming,  was  drowned.  Other 
expeditions  were  sent  out,  starting  at  the  same  point  on  the 
western  coast,  but  they  all  accomplished  little. 


ENGLISH  EXPEDITIONS.  95 

These  attempts  to  reach  the  central  parts  of  the  continent 
from  the  coasts  of  Senegambia  and  Guinea  having  failed,  it 
was  proposed,  about  1819,  to  try  a  new  route  proceeding  from 
Tripoli  through  the  Great  Desert.  The  first  expedition  failed. 
A  second  was  undertaken  in  1822,  under  Major  Denham,  and 
others.  This  was  very  successful.  Lake  Tchad  was  discovered, 
the  region  around  it  visited,  and  the  names  and  boundaries  of 
the  tribes  and  kingdoms  ascertained.  Some  of  the  cities  were 
found  to  be  quite  populous ;  one  of  them,  Sackatoo,  had  about 
forty  thousand  inhabitants,  and  was  laid  out  with  regular 
streets.  In  general,  these  countries  were  much  more  advanced 
in  civilization  than  was  expected. 

A  companion  of  Major  Denham,  Captain  Clapperton,  in 
1826,  determined,  with  two  or  three  others,  to  try  again  to 
reach  the  Niger,  and  to  start  where  Park  had  started,  from  the 
northern  coast  of  the  Gulf  of  Guinea.  In  this  attempt  all 
died  but  Lander,  the  servant  of  Clapperton,  who  returned  to 
the  coast,  though  not  till  the  Niger  had  been  reached  and 
crossed.  Lander,  with  a  younger  brother,  made  a  second 
attempt  in  1830,  following  the  same  route.  They  again 
reached  the  river,  and  sailed  down  it  in  a  canoe,  and  finally 
came  to  its  mouth  in  the  Gulf  of  Guinea. 

This  was  the  solution  of  one  of  the  great  African  mysteries. 
The  real  cause  of  the  difficulty  in  finding  where  the  Niger 
emptied  was,  that  it  divided  into  many  streams  as  it  came 
towards  the  sea,  some  of  them  a  hundred  miles  distant  from 
others,  and  each  of  the  larger  ones  seemed  as  if  it  was  an 
independent  stream. 

So  soon  as  the  mouth  of  the  Niger  was  found,  some  British 
merchants  determined  to  send  an  expedition  up  it,  to  ascer- 
tain its  course  and  capabilities  for  navigation  and  commerce. 
Accordingly  two  steamers,  one  of  them  of  iron,  were  sent  out 
in  1832.  But  the  steamers  did  not  ascend  far.  Many  of  the 
crews  were  cut  oif  by  disease,  and  Richard  Lander,  who 
accompanied  them,  was  mortally  wounded  in  a  fight  with  the 
natives.  In  every  point  of  view  the  expedition  was  a  failure. 

In  1841  the  British  sent  three  iron  steamers,  intending  to 


96  BIT  CHAILLU'S  TRAVELS. 

establish  a  colony  somewhere  on  the  banks  of  the  Niger. 
One  of  the  steamers  went  as  far  up  as  Egga,  about  three  hun- 
dred and  fifty  miles  from  the  sea,  but  was  compelled  to 
return  through  the  sickness  of  the  crew.  The  whole  expe- 
dition ended  in  disaster ;  many  died  of  the  river  fever,  and 
the  colony  was  abandoned. 

A  later  expedition  was  sent  out  in  185-i  by  the  same  gov- 
ernment, and  was  much  more  successful,  and  since  that  time 
the  river  has  been  explored  by  several  parties,  and  found  to 
offer  no  impediment  to  navigation  that  may  not  easily  be 
overcome.  It  has  been  navigated  for  four  hundred  and  forty 
seven  geographical  miles,  and  with  rising  waters,  or  in  a  full 
flood,  is  believed  to  be  navigable  to  a  much  higher  point,  and 
at  such  stages  of  water  the  river  is  comparatively  healthy. 

Another  traveler  from  the  western  coast,  M.  Du  Chaillu,  an 
American,  has  excited  much  interest  by  his  discoveries.  lie 
reached  Africa  in  December,  1855,  and  started  inward  from 
the  neighborhood  of  the  Gaboon  river.  Proceeding  into  the 
interior,  he  discovered  a  range  of  mountains  rising  in  terraces 
to  the  heighth  of  six  thousand  feet.  This  range  was  cov- 
ered with  dense  and  almost  impenetrable  forests,  which  are 
nearly  devoid  of  animal  life.  The  thick  jungles  and  rugged 
steeps  are  almost  incapable  of  cultivation,  and  are  inhabited 
by  savages  and  by  apes.  In  these  mountains  are  the  sources 
of  most  of  the  rivers  which  here  enter  into  the  Atlantic. 
lie  discovered  a  large  river  which  he  ascended  three  hundred 
and  fifty  miles  from  the  coast,  and  which  he  thinks  one  of 
the  most  important  streams  of  Western  Africa.  He  also 
discovered  a  fine  lake,  the  country  around  which  was  filled 
with  India-rubber  vines  and  ebony  trees.  On  a  second  visit 
the  lake  was  in  part  dried  up,  and  its  surface  dotted  with 
islets  of  black  mud,  on  which  crocodiles  were  basking  in  vast 
numbers,  many  of  them  twenty  feet  long. 

M.  Du  Chaillu  visited  several  of  the  negro  tribes,  and  had 
many  interesting  and  exciting  experiences.  Ashango-land 
was  the  limit  of  his  second  expedition,  which  was  suddenly 
checked  by  a  sad  accident.  The  people  had  been  rather  sus- 


AN  UNFORTUNATE  AFFAIR.  97 

picious  of  liis  motives,  and  harassed  him  in  his  camp,  so  that 
a  few  shots  were  fired  in  the  air  by  way  of  warning.  Unfor- 
tunately, one  of  the  guns  was  discharged  before  it  was  raised, 
and  the  bullet  struck  an  unfortunate  man  in  the  head,  kill- 
ing him  instantly.  The  whole  village  flew  to  arms,  the  war- 
drum  sounded,  and  the  warriors  crowded  to  the  spot,  with 
their  barbed  spears,  and  bows  and  poisoned  arrows. 

For  a  moment  there  was  a  lull :  the  interpreter,  whose 
hand  fired  the  unlucky  shot,  explained  that  it  was  an  accident, 
and  that  the  price  of  twenty  men  should  be  paid  as  compen- 
sation. Beads  and  cloth  were  produced,  and  one  of  the  head- 
men had  just  assented  to  the  proposal,  when  a  loud  wailing 
was  heard,  and  a  woman  rushed  out  of  a  hut,  announcing 
that  the  favorite  wife  of  the  friendly  head-man  had  been 
killed  by  the  same  fatal  bullet,  which  had  passed  through  the 
thin  walls  of  the  hut,  and  killed  the  poor  woman  within. 

After  this  announcement  all  hopes  of  peace  were  at  an  end ; 
the  husband  naturally  cried  for  vengeance ;  and,  amid  a 
shower  of  arrows,  one  of  which  struck  the  interpreter,  and 
another  nearly  severed  M.  Du  Chaillu's  finger,  the  party 
retreated  as  they  best  could,  refraining  from  firing  as  long  as 
they  could,  but  at  last  being  forced  to  fire  in  self-defence. 

In  order  to  escape  as  fast  as  they  cortld,  the  porters  were 
obliged  to  throw  away  the  instruments,  specimens  of  natural 
history,  and  photographs,  so  that  the  labor  of  months  was 
lost,  and  scarcely  anything  except  the  journal  was  saved. 
Each  village  to  which  they  came,  sent  out  its  warriors  against 
them.  M.  Du  Chaillu  was  dangerously  wounded  in  the  side, 
and  had  at  last  to  throw  away  his  best  but  heaviest  rifle.  It 
was  only  after  the  death  of  several  of  their  number  that  the 
Ashangos  perceived  that  they  had  to  contend  with  a  foe  who 
was  more  than  a  match  for  them,  and  at  last  gave  up  the  pur- 
suit. 

On  his  retreat  from  Ashango-land,  Du  Chaillu  was 
received  with  even  more  than  usual  hospitality  by  the  Isho- 
gos,  who  live  westward  of  the  Ashangos.  They  arranged 
his  journey  westwards,  and  the  whole  population  of  the  vil- 


98  AX  ASIIIRA  GREETING. 

lajres  went  with  him  a  little  distance  when  he  started  off. 

O 

Some  of  the  Ishogos  accompanied  him  on  his  expedition. 

On  their  meeting  Olenda,  the  head  chief  of  a  tribe  of  the 
Ashira,  a  singular  scene  took  place.  It  seems  that  each 
Ashira  cliief  has  a  sort  of  salutation  called  "Kombo,"  which 
he  addresses  to  every  one  of  importance  whom  he  meets  for 
the  first  time. 

The  ringing  of  the  "  kando "  or  sacred  bell,  which  is 
the  emblem  of  royalty  in  this  land,  and  which  is  only 
sounded  on  occasions  of  ceremony,  announced  the  approach 
of  Olenda. 

lie  was  a  very  old  man  of  venerable  aspect.  His  woolly 
hair  was  perfectly  white,  his  body  bent  almost  double  with 
age,  and  his  face  one  mass  of  wrinkles.  By  way  of  adding  to 
the  beauty  of  his  countenance,  he  had  covered  one  side  of  his 
face  with  red  and  the  other  with  white  stripes.  He  was  so 
old  that  he  was  accompanied  by  many  of  his  children,  all  old, 
white-headed,  and  wrinkled  men.  The  natives  held  him  in 
great  respect,  believing  that  he  had  a  powerful  fetish  against 
death.  As  soon  as  he  had  recovered  from  the  sight  of  a 
clothed  man  with  straight  hair,  steady  eyes,  and  a  white  face, 
he  proceeded  to  make  a  speech  which,  when  translated,  was 
as  follows : — 

"I  have  no  bowels.  I  am  like  the  Ovenga  river;  I 
cannot  be  cut  in  two.  But  also,  I  am  like  the  is  iembar  and 
Ovenga  rivers,  which  unite  together.  Thus  my  body  is 
united,  and  nothing  can  divide  it." 

This  address  was  rather  puzzling  because  no  sense  could  be 
made  from  it;  but  the  interpreter-  explained  that  this  was 
merely  the  kombo,  and  that  sense  was  not  a  necessary  ingre- 
dient in  it. 

According  to  the  etiquette  of  the  country,  after  Olenda  had 
made  his  salutation,  he  offered  his  presents,  consisting  of  three 
goats,  twenty  fowls,  twenty  bunches  of  plantain,  several  bas- 
kets of  ground-nuts,  some  sugar-cane,  and  two  slaves.  That 
the  last-mentioned  articles  should  be  declined  was  a  most 
astonishing  phenomena  to  the  Ashira. 


TBTE  FRIGHTENED  APONOS.  101 

The  manner  in  which  Olenda  dismissed  his  guests  was  not 
less  curious.  Gathering  his  old  and  white-haired  sons  around 
him,  he  addressed  the  travelers,  wishing  them  success,  and 
littering  a  sort  of  benediction.  He  then  took  some  sugar- 
cane, bit  a  piece  of  the  pith  out  of  it,  chewed  it,  and  spat  a 
small  portion  into  the  hand  of  each  of  the  travelers,  mutter- 
ing at  the  same  time,  some  "words  to  the  effect  that  he  hoped 
all  things  would  go  pleasantly  with  them,  and  be  sweet  as  the 
breath  which  lie  had  blown  on  their  hands.  Advanced  as  he 
was  in  age,  he  lived  some  years  longer,  until  he  succumbed 
to  the  small-pox  in  common  with  many  of  his  relatives  and 
people. 

Another  tribe,  the  Aponos,  although  at  first  terribly  fright- 
ened, proved  honest  and  friendly,  and  so  good  natured,  that 
when  he  dispersed  some  night  revelers  who  disturbed  his 
sleep,  by  going  to  their  hut  and  kicking  over  their  vessels  of 
palm-wine  and  ordering  the  chiefs  and  his  attendants  out  of 
the  hut,  they  grumbling  obeyed,  although  much  vexed  at  the 
loss  of  so  much  liquor. 

When  the  traveler  first  entered  the  Apono  village,  there 
was  a  general  consternation,  the  men  running  away  as  fast  as 
their  legs  could  carry  them,  and  the  women  fleeing  to  their 
huts,  clasping  their  children  in  their  arms,  and  shrieking  with 
terror.  The  village  was,  in  fact,  deserted,  in  spite  of  the  ex- 
ample of  the  chief,  who,  although  as  much  frightened  as  any 
of  his  subjects,  bore  in  mind  the  responsibilities  of  his  office, 
and  stood  in  front  of  his  house  to  receive  his  visitor.  In 
order  to  neutralize  as  much  as  possible  the  effect  of  the  white 
man's  witchery,  he  had  hung  on  his  neck,  body,  and  limbs  all 
the  fetishes  which  he  possessed,  and  had  besides  covered  his 
body  with  mysterious  lines  of  alumbi  chalk.  Thus  fortified, 
he  stood  in  front  of  his  hut,  accompanied  by  two  men,  who 
bravely  determined  to  take  part  with  their  chief  in  his  peril- 
ous adventure. 

M.  Du  Chaillu  claims  to  liave  liad  much  experience  and 
success  at  fighting  gorillas — gigantic  apes,  about  which 
there  has  been  considerable  controversy.  Some  claim  that  the 


102  HUNTING  THE  GORILLA. 

gorilla  is  the  king  of  the  forest,  supplanting  all  other  wild 
animals,  and  even  attacking  and  driving  away  the  elephant 
itself ;  that  it  has  no  fear  of  man,  but  lies  in  wait  for  him 
and  attacks  him  whenever  the  opportunity  offers,  and  that  in 
such  a  duel  the  man  or  the  gorilla  must  perish.  Others  claim 
that  the  gorilla  is  timid  and  retiring,  and  that  he  naturally 
runs  away  from  man.  There  is  no  doubt  however  that  it  is  a 
tierce  and  savage  beast  when  attacked.  Mr.  Winwood  Reade, 
an  Englishman,  who  traveled  extensively  along  the  coast  of 
"Western  Africa,  says  that  no  white  man  has  ever  yet  bagged 
a  gorilla. 

To  a  party  of  native  hunters  unprovided  with  fire-arms, 
the  chase  of  the  animal  is  a  service  of  real  difficulty  and  dan- 
ger. They  are  obliged  to  seek  it  in  the  recesses  of  its  own 
haunts,  and  to  come  to  close  quarters  with  it.  The  spear  is 
necessarily  the  principal  weapon  employed,  as  the  arrow,  even 
though  poisoned,  does  not  kill  at  once,  and  the  gorilla  is  only 
incited  by  the  pain  of  a  wound  to  attack  the  man  who  inflicted 
it.  Their  fear  of  the  animal  is  also  increased  by  the  supersti- 
tion that  a  man  is  sometimes  transformed  into  a  gorilla,  and 
becomes  thereby  a  sort  of  sylvan  demon,  who  cannot  be 
killed — at  all  events,  by  a  black  man — and  who  is  possessed 
with  a  thirst  for  killing  every  human  being  that  he  meets. 

Mr.  Reade,  the  traveler  referred  to  above,  visited,  among 
other  tribes,  the  Fans,  who  live  just  above  the  equator,  on 
the  Gamboon  River.  They  are  coffee-colored,  and  in  other 
respects  not  to  be  classed  with  negroes.  They  are  fierce 
and  cruel  in  battle,  yet  in  private  life  said  to  be  polite  and 
hospitable — a  race  of  cannibal  gentlemen  ;  for  cannibalism  is 
their  chief  characteristic. 

Mr.  Reade  questioned  an  old  and  very  polite  Fan  on  the 
subject.  His  answers  were  plain  enough.  Of  course  they 
all  ate  men.  He  ate  men  himself,  and  they  were  very  good. 
They  mostly  ate  prisoners  of  war,  but  some  ate  executed  wiz- 
ards— a  food  which  he  was  rather  afraid  to  eat,  as  it  might  not 
agree  with  him. 

This  Fan,  supposed  of  course,  that  white  men  were  canni- 


TALK  WITH  A  CAXXIBAL.  105 

bals,  and  asked  Mr.  Reade  wiry  they  took  tlie  trouble  to  send 
to  Africa  for  negroes  when  they  had  a  plenty  of  white  men. 
to  eat  at  home.  Mr.  Reade,  having  an  eye  to  the  future;, 
discreetly  replied  that  they  were  obliged  to  do  so,  because  tho 
flesh  of  white  men  was  deadly  poison.  This  answer  wasi 
satisfactory  to  the  Fan.  Mr.  Reade,  however,  when  traveling 
in  the  company  of  cannibals  thought  it  good  policy  not  to 
let  them  ever  get  very  hungry 

The  Fans  are  very  superstitious,and,  as  far  as  they  wor- 
ship anything,  are  idolaters.  Like  many  other  African  tribes, 
they  have  a  custom  of  celebrating  by  some  kind  of  religious 
ceremony,  the  first  appearance  of  the  new  moon.  Mr.  Reade 
graphically  describes  the  proceedings  on  such  an  occasion : — 

"  The  full  moon  began  to  rise.  When  she  was  high  in  the 
heavens,  I  had  the  fortune  to  witness  a  religious  dance  in  her 
honor.  There  were  two  musicians,  one  of  whom  had  an 
instrument  called  handja,  constructed  on  the  principle  of  an 
liarmonicon ;  a  piece  of  hard  wood  being  beaten  with  sticks, 
and  the  notes  issuing  from  calabashes  of  different  sizes  fast- 
ened below.  The  other  instrument  was  a  drum,  which  stood 
upon  a  pedestal,  its  skin  made  from  an  elephant's  ear.  The 
dull  thud  of  this  drum,  beaten  with  the  hands,  and  the  harsh 
rattle  of  the  handja,  summoned  the  dancers. 

They  came  singing  in  procession  from  the  forest.  The 
dance  was  uncouth  ;  their  song  a  solemn  tuneless  chant ;  they 
revolved  in  a  circle,  clasping  their  hands  as  we  do  in  prayer, 
with  their  eyes  fixed  always  on  the  moon,  and  sometimes 
their  arms  flung  wildly  towards  her. 

The  youth  who  played  the  drum  assumed  a  glorious  atti- 
tude. As  I  looked  upon  him — his  head  thrown  back,  his 
eyes  upturned,  his  fantastic  head-dress,  his  naked,  finely- 
moulded  form — I  saw  beauty  in  the  savage  for  the  first  time. 

The  measure  changed,  and  two  women,  covered  with  green 
leaves  and  the  skins  of  wild  beasts,  danced  in  the  midst, 
where  they  executed  a  pas-de-deux  which  would  have  made  a 
premiere  danseuse  despair.  They  accompanied  their  intri- 
cate steps  with  miraculous  contortions  of  the  body,  and 


106  BARGAINING  FOR  A  WIFE. 

obtained  small  presents  of  white  beads  from  the  spectators." 

Bargaining  for  a  wife,  is  often  a  very  amusing  scene, 
especially  if  the  father  has  been  sufficiently  sure  of  his  daugh- 
ter's beauty  to  refrain  from  betrothing  her  as  a  child,  The 
dusky  suitor  dresses  himself  in  his  best  apparel,  and  waits  on 
the  father,  in  order  to  open  the  negotiations. 

His  business  is,  of  course,  to  depreciate  the  beauty  of  the 
girl ;  to  represent  that,  although  she  may  be  very  pretty  as  a 
child  of  eleven  or  twelve,  she  will  have  fallen  oif  in  her  good 
looks  when  she  is  a  mature  woman  of  fourteen  or  fifteen. 
The  father,  on  the  contrary,  extols  the  value  of  his  daughter, 
speaks  slightingly  of  the  suitor  as  a  man  quite  beneath  his 
notice,  and  forthwith  sets  a  price  on  her  that  the  richest 
warrior  could  not  hope  to  pay. 

At  last,  the  affair  is  settled,  and  the  price  of  the  girl 
agreed  upon.  Part  is  generally  paid  at  the  time,  and  the 
bridegroom  promises  to  pay  the  remainder  when  he  comes 
for  his  wife.  He  and  his  friends  then  begin  to  make  prepa- 
rations for  a  grand  feast  with  which  they  are  expected  to 
entertain  a  vast  number  of  guests. 

When  the  day  is  fixed,  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  village 
assemble,  and  the  bride  is  handed  over  to  her  husband,  who 
has  already  paid  her  price.  Both  are,  of  course,  dressed  in 
their  very  best.  The  bride  wears,  as  is  the  custom  among 
unmarried  females,  nothing  but  red  paint  and  as  many  orna- 
ments as  she  can  manage  to  procure.  Her  hair  is  decorated 
with  great  quantities  of  white  beads,  and  her  wrists  and 
ankles  are  hidden  under  a  profusion  of  brass  and  copper 
rings.  The  bridegroom  oils  his  body  until  his  skin  shines 
like  a  mirror,  blackens  and  polishes  his  well  filed  teeth,  adonis 
his  head  with  a  tuft  of  brightly-colored  feathers,  and  ties 
round  his  waist  the  handsomest  skin  which  he  possesses. 

A  scene  of  unrestrained  jollity  then  commences.  The 
guests,  sometimes  several  hundred  in  number,  keep  up  the 
feast  for  three  or  four  days  in  succession,  eating  elephants' 
flesh,  drinking  palm-wine,  and  dancing,  until  the  powers  of 
nature  are  quite  exhausted,  and  then  sleeping  for  an  hour  or 


DANCK  IN  I1ONOUU  Off  TUB  NEW  MOON. 


THE  CAMIIAS-BARTH'S  TRAVELS.  109 

two  with  the  happy  facility  that  distinguishes  the  native 
African.  Awaking  from  their  brief  slumber,  they  begin  to 
feast  afresh,  and  after  the  first  few  hours  scarcely  one  of  the 
guests  are  sober,  or  indeed  are  expected  to  be  so.  At  last, 
however,  all  the  wine  is  drunk,  and  then  the  guests  return  to 
an  involuntary  state  of  sobriety. 

Mr.  Reade  also  visited  the  Gammas,  who  live  in  a  large 
district  through  which  runs  the  river  Rembo,  the  great  high- 
way into  Central  Africa.  Like  most  tribes  which  live  on  the 
banks  of  rivers,  the  Gamma  are  good  boatman  and  fine  swim- 
mers— the  women  taking  to  the  water  as  naturally  as  the  men. 
*  Along  the  river  Rembo  are  certain  sacred  spots,  on  which 
the  natives  think  themselves  bound  to  land  and  dance  in 
honor  of  the  spirit.  When  any  one  passes  the  spot  for  the 
first  time,  he  is  obliged  to  disembark,  to  chant  a  song  in 
praise  of  the  local  deity,  to  pluck  a  bough  from  a  tree  and 
plant  it  in  the  mud.  When  Du  Chaillu  passed  the  spot, 
he  was  requested  to  follow  the  usual  custom,  but  refused,  on 
the  ground  of  disbelief  in  polytheism.  As  usual,  the  Ashira 
admitted  his  plea  as  far  as  he  was  concerned.  He  was  a  great 
white  man,  and  one  God  was  enough  for  the  rich  and  white 
men.  But  black  men  were  poor  and  ignorant,  and  therefore 
wanted  plenty  of  gods  to  take  care  of  them. 

When  a  canoe  starts  on  a  long  journey,  a  curious  ceremony 
is  enacted.  Each  man  dips  his  paddle  in  the  water,  slaps  it 
on  the  surface,  raises  it  in  the  air,  and  allows  one  drop  of  the 
water  to  fall  into  his  mouth.  After  a  good  deal  of  singing, 
shouting,  and  antic-playing,  they  settle  down  to  their  work, 
and  paddle  on  steadily  for  hours. 

An  important  expedition  under  Messrs.  Richardson,  Barth, 
and  Overweg,  was  sent  out  by  the  British  and  Prussian  Gov- 
ernments in  1849.  Starting  from  Tripoli,  in  March,  1850, 
the  travelers  proceeded  from  the  Arab  villages,  relics  of  the 
middle  ages,  into  a  country  dotted  with  ruins  of  the  Roman 
dominion,  and  through  the  wild  hordes  of  Tuaricks  who 
inhabit  the  desert,  to  the  Negro  tribes  and  native  races  south 
of  the  desert. 


110  EXPLORATIONS  IX  SOUTH  AFRICA. 

They  found  a  great  diversity  of  people  and  customs, 
Mohammedan  knowledge  ingrafted  on  ignorance,  and  magnifi- 
cent ceremonies  side  by  side  with  the  simplicity  of  barbarous 
Negro  tribes. 

They  arrived  on  the  borders  of  Soudan  on  the  first  day 
January  1851.  Here  the  travelers  separated,  and  Richardson 
died  in  the  following  March.  Overweg  and  Barth  met  again 
in  July,  at  Kuta,  near  Lake  Tchad.  Here  Overweg  died  in 
September.  Dr.  Barth  then  turned  his  steps  towards  the 
Niger.  He  started  from  Kuta  in  November  1852,  reached 
Sackatoo  in  April,  1853,  and  arrived  at  the  famous  city  of 
Timbuctoo  in  September.  He  remained  in  Timbuctoo  near- 
ly one  year,  explored  the  middle  course  of  the  Niger,  and 
returned  to  Europe  in  1855. 

As  early  as  1630,  the  Dutch  founded  Cape  Town  in  South 
Africa,  the  capital  of  Cape  Colony.  This  colony  became,  and 
is,  the  most  flourishing  of  all  the  European  settlements  on  the 
Continent.  The  Dutch  early  extended  their  rule  in  all  direc- 
tions, and  became  masters  of  a  large  section  of  country.  The 
Colony  was  taken  by  the  English  in  1795,  and  restored  to  the 
Dutch  in  1800 ;  it  was  taken  again  by  the  English  in  whose 
hands  it  now  remains.  From  this  end  of  the  continent  many 
explorations  were  made,  some  by  merchants  and  traders,  and 
gome  by  missionaries. 

As  early  as  1777,  the  Orange  river  was  visited,  and  an 
attempt  made  to  cross  over  to  Mozambique  on  the  east  coast, 
but  the  travelers  were  killed  on  the  way.  Mr.  Campbell,  a 
missionary,  penetrated  further  into  the  interior,  and  came  to 
the  border  of  an  immense  desert,  which  he  supposed  rivaled 
in  extent  the  desert  of  Sahara.  This  desert  was  crossed  by 
Livingstone,  as  we  shall  see  in  following  his  journeys. 

Another  missionary,  Rev.  Robert  Moffat,  lived  in  South 
Africa  over  fifty  years,  and  has  given  us  a  very  interesting 
account  of  his  experiences  and  discoveries.  In  1818,  he 
took  up  his  abode  in  Great  Namaqua-land,  just  north  of  the 
Orange  River,  dwelling  for  six  months  in  a  Hottentot  hut. 
This  station  being  almost  uninhabitable  on  account  of  the 


MOFFAT'S  TRAVELS.  HI 

want  of  rain,  he  went  to  explore  the  country  northward  on  the 
border  of  the  Damara  land,  but  without  success.  Soon  after 
he  took  a  journey  eastward,  along  the  Orange  River,  and 
gives  a  glowing  account  of  the  river  scenery  and  the  denizens 
thereof — birds  of  rare  plumage  but  without  a  song,  geese, 
ducks,  flamingoes,  swallows,  ravens,  etc.  Tigers  lions,  and 
hyenas  also  abounded,  and  he  was  surrounded  one  morning  by  a 
hundred  baboons,  of  gigantic  size  and  threatening  aspect. 

Passing  on  over  a  hot  plain  without  water,  the  delusive 
mirage  tantilized  him  with  exhibitions  of  the  lovliest  pic- 
tures of  lakes  and  pools  studded  with  islets.  Sometimes 
when  his  companions  and  horses  were  in  advance,  they 
appeared  as  if  lifted  from  the  earth,  or  moving  like  dark 
living  pictures  in  the  air.  So  intense  was  the  heat  that  he 
often  thrust  his  head  into  an  old  ant-hill  excavated  by  the 
ant-eater,  to  have  something  solid  between  the  fevered  brain 
and  the  piercing  rays  of  the  sun.  "When  water  was  reached 
he  was  unable  to  speak,  but  soon  revived  on  drinking  some. 

Several  years  later,  Mr.  Moffat  went  aboutf  four  hundred 
miles  north-east  from  Kuruman  into  the  country  of  the 
Matsebele,  whose  king's  name  was  Mosilikatse.  On  reaching 
his  capital,  Moffat  was  met  by  a  thousand  warriors  whose 
kilts  were  of  ape  skins,  their  legs  and  arms  adorned  with  the 
hair  and  tails  of  oxen.  After  uttering  some  hideous  yells,  all 
was  silent  as  at  midnight,  and  the  men  as  motionless  as  stat- 
ues. Then  came  a  war  song,  some  parts  of  its  music  befitting 
the  neither  regions,  then  a  pause,  and  then  out  marched  the 
monarch.  But  he  was  very  friendly,  and  gave  Mr.  Moffat  a 
clumsy  but  hearty  shake  of  the  hand.  "Whenever  he  arose  or 
sat  down  all  within  sight  hailed  him  with  a  shout,  followed 
by  a  number  of  his  high  sounding  titles,  such  as  Great  King, 
King  of  Heaven,  the  Elephant,  the  Lion's  Paw  and  the  like. 
His  government  was  the  very  essence  of  despotism. 

In  1854,  Mr.  Moffat  visited  again  the  same  region,  to  help 
forward  some  supplies  for  Livingstone  then  on  a  journey  to 
the  Zambesi,  and  met  this  same  chief,  now  old  and  infirm. 

Jn  1821,  Mr.  Moffat  established  himself  as  a  missionary,  at 


112  ANECDOTES  OF  A  RAIN-MAKER. 

Ivuruman,  which  was  for  a  long  time  the  most  inland  station 
from  Cape  Town.  Here  Dr.  Livingstone  came,  on  his  first 
arrival  in  Africa,  and  from  this  point  he  started  northward 
on  his  first  explorations.  Subsequently  he  married  Mr.  Moffat's 
daughter. 

In  Southern  Africa  rain  is  the  very  life  of  the  country, 
and  should  it  be  delayed  beyond  the  usual  time  the  dread  of 
famine  agitates  the  people.  Consequently,  good  rain-makers 
are  in  great  demand.  Mr.  Moffat  relates,  that  on  one  occa- 
sion when  a  drought  threatened,  the  Bechnanas,  among  whom 
he  lived,  sent  two  hundred  miles  for  a  renowned  rain-maker. 
He  came,  but  found  the  clouds  rather  hard  to  manage,  and 
the  drought  continued. 

One  day,  as  he  was  taking  a  sound  sleep,  a  shower  fell,  on 
which  one  of  the  principal  men  entered  his  house  to  congrat- 
ulate him,  but  to  his  utter  amazement,  found  him  totally 
insensible  to  what  was  transpiring. 

"  Ilelaka  rare !"  (Hallo,  by  my  father !)  "  I  thought  you 
were  making  rain,"  said  the  intruder  ;  when,  arising  from  his 
slumbers,  and  seeing  his  wife  sitting  on  the  floor,  shaking  a 
milk-sack  in  order  to  obtain  a  little  butter  to  annoint  her  hair, 
he  replied,  pointing  to  the  operation  of  churning, 

"Do  you  not  see  my  wife  churning  rain  as  fast  as  she 
tan?" 

This  reply  gave  entire  satisfaction,  and  it  presently  spread 
through  the  entire  length  and  breadth  of  the  town,  that  the 
rain-maker  had  charmed  the  shower  out  of  a  milk-sack. 

This  shower,  however,  furnished  no  relief,  and  for  many  a 
long  week  afterward  not  a  clbud  appeared.  The  women  had 
planted  extensive  fields,  but  the  seed  would  not  sprout ;  the 
cattle  were  dying  for  want  of  pasture,  and"  hundreds  of  ema- 
ciated men  were  seen  going  to  the  fields  in  quest  of  roots  and 
reptiles,  while  others  were  perishing  with  hunger. 

All  these  circumstances  irrated  the  rain-maker,  and  he 
said  that  secret  rogues  were  disobeying  his  proclama- 
tions. He  complained  that  the  people  had  only  given  him 
goats  to  kill,  and  asked  for  fat  oxen,  promising  then  to  let 
them  see  ox-rain. 


BRINGING  THE  BABOON. 


ANDERSSEN'S  TRAVELS.  115 

Finding  that  his  charms  and  ceremonies  produced  no  effect, 
and  that  the  people  were  getting  impatient,  the  impostor  had 
resource  to  another  strategem.  He  well  knew  that  baboons 
were  not  very  easily  caught  among  rocky  glens  and  shelving 
precipices,  and,  therefore/ in  order  to  gain  time,  he  informed 
the  men  that,  to  make  rain,  he  must  have  a  baboon ;  more- 
over, that  not  a  hair  on  his  body  was  to  be  wanting ;  in  short, 
the  animal  should  be  free  from  blemish.  After  a  long  and 
severe  pursuit,  and  with  bodies  much  lacerated,  a  band  of 
chosen  runners  succeeded  in  capturing  a  young  baboon,  which 
they  brought  back  triumphantly  and  exultingly.  On  seeing 
the  animal,  the  rogue  put  on  a  countenance  exhibiting  the 
most  intense  sorrow,  exclaiming, 

"My  heart  is  rent  in  pieces!  I  am  dumb  with  grief!" 
Pointing  at  the  same  time,  to  the  ear  of  the  baboon,  that  was 
slightly  scratched,  and  the  tail,  which  had  lost  some  hair,  he 
added,  "  Did  I  not  tell  you  I  could  not  bring  rain  if  there 
was  one  hair  wanting  ?" 

In  consequence  of  Livingstone's  discovery  of  Lake  Ngami 
in  1849,  a  Swedish  Naturalist,  C.  J.  Anderssen,  with  Francis 
Galton,  an  Englishman,  started  an  expedition  which  left  Cape 
Town  in  August,  1850.  They  sailed  up  the  Western  Coast 
to  "Walfisch  Bay,  and  from  this  point  started  for  the  interior 
on  the  19th  of  September.  They  passed  through  the  Coast 
country  inhabited  by  the  Namaqua  Hottentots,  into  the  land 
of  the  Damaras. 

Being  told  by  the  natives  that  there  was  a  lake,  "  as  large 
as  the  sky,"  far  to  the  northward,  they  determined  to  explore 
it,  and  after  a  long  journey,  were  greatly  disappointed  at 
finding  that  a  dried-up  water  course,  about  a  mile  long,  and  a 
patch  of  weeds  "  was  the  only  reward  for  months  of  toil  and 
anxiety." 

At  this  point  the  travelers  determined  to  continue  north- 
wards, where  lived  a  nation  called  Ovambo,  which  means  in 
their  language  "  The  merry  people,"  and  started  from  the 
great  lake  on  the  12th  of  April.  On  reaching  the  Damara 
border,  the  native  chief  refused  to  give  them  a  guide,  or  any 


116  ANDERSSEN'S  TRAVELS. 

/ 

information.  They  finally  joined  an  Ovambo  trading  cara- 
van, and  journeyed  with  it  to  the  residence  of  the  Ovambo 
king,  Nangoro,  with  whom  they  had  an  interview.  He  was 
a  very  fat  man,  and  had  one  hundred  and  six  wives. 

This  tribe  are  remarkable  for  their  many  good  qualities. 
They  are  so  honest  that  if  a  man  is  detected  in  stealing,  he  is 
brought  before  the  house  of  the  king,  and  there  speared  to 
death.  They  surround  their  dwellings  with  palisades,  made 
of  poles  fixed  firmly  in  the  ground.  The  interior  arrange- 
ments of  these  inclosures  were  most  intricate.  They  com- 
posed the  dwellings  of  masters  and  servants,  open  places 
devoted  to  amusements  and  consultations,  graineries,  pig-pens, 
roosting  places  for  fowls,  the  cattle  kraal,  etc. 

The  travelers  set  out  on  their  return  June  15th,  and 
reached  Okamabuti — the  place  were  they  joined  the  Ovambo 
caravan — on  the  first  of  July.  On  the  4th  of  August  they 
arrived  at  the  Mission  station  of  Barmen,  and  Mr.  Galton 
soon  afterwards  returned  to  England.  Mr.  Anderssen  drove 
a  herd  of  cattle  down  the  coast  to  Cape  Town,  where  he  sold 
them.  He  then  returned  to  Walfisch  Bay  by  boat,  and  started 
towards  Lake  !Ngami,  which  he  reached  after  a  variety  of 
adventure. 

One  day  as  he  was  cantering  along,  he  found  himself  all  at 
once  on  the  verge  of  a  pitfall,  which  had  been  made  by  the 
natives  to  entrap  the  giraffe.  It  was  too  late  to  retreat,  and 
he  and  his  horse  went  with  a  crash  through  the  light  net- 
work of  sticks  and  grass  that  covered  it,  to  the  bottom  of 
the  pit,  which  was  about  ten  feet  deep,  but  escaped  without 
much  injury. 

While  at  Lake  Xgami,  Anderssen  started  to  ascend  the  river 
Teoge,  to  a  place  called  Libebe ;  but  after  a  voyage  of  twelve 
days,  the  natives  would  go  no  further.  So  he  returned  to 
the  lake,  and  subsequently  to  Cape  Town. 

In  1858,  Anderssen  fitted  out  a  new  expedition,  and  again 
started  on  his  travels  into  the  Damara  and  Ovambo  countries, 
and  discovered  a  large  river  which  the  natives  called  the  Oka- 
vango.  Here  he  was  taken  sick,  and  after  waiting  a  month 


ANDEBSSEX'S  TRAVELS.  119 

without  getting  any  better,  he   started   back  upon  his  old 
trail.     This  was  his  last  journey  in  Africa. 

Mr.  Anderssen  traveled  afoot,  on  horse-back,  or  ox-back, 
and  rode  one  ox  over  two  thousand  miles.  He  closes  his  book 
of  experiences  in  Africa  as  follows  : — 

"  Tongue  is  too  feeble  to  express  what  I  suffered  at  times. 
To  say  nothing  of  narrow  escapes  from  lions,  and  other  dan- 
gerous beasts,  I  was  constantly  enduring  the  cravings  of  hun- 
ger, and  the  agonies  of  thirst.  Occasionally  I  was  as  much 
as  two  days  without  tasting  food ;  and  it  not  unfrequently 
happened  that  in  the  course  of  the  twenty-four  hours  I  could 
only  once  or  twice  moisten  my  parched  lips.  Sometimes  I 
was  so  overcome  by  these  causes,  coupled  with  bodily  fatigue, 
that  I  fainted.  Once,  both  my  steed  and  myself  dropped 
down  in  the  midst  of  a  sand-plain,  where  we  remained  a  long 
time,  in  a  state  bordering  on  unconsciousness,  and  exposed  to 
all  the  injurious  effects  of  a  tropical  sun.  I  would  at  times 
pursue  my  course  with  a  pained  and  listless  step,  scarcely 
knowing  what  I  was  about,  and  staggering  like  a  drunken 
man.  '  This,'  says  Captain  Messum,  when  speaking  of  the 
hardships  he  had  undergone  in  a  short  tour  into  the  interior 
of  the  "West  Coast,  "  was  the  pleasure  of  traveling  in  Africa. 
It  requires  the  endurance  of  a  camel,  and  the  courage  of  a 
lion.'  " 

In  1848,  Ladislaus  Magyar,  a  Hungarian,  visited  Benguela, 
the  most  southern  Portuguese  port  on  the  western  coast  of 
Africa.  It  contains  about  three  thousand  inhabitants,  and 
has  a  very  unhealthy  climate  for  white  men. 

Magyar  found  that  a  caravan  of  native  or  half-caste  traders 
was  about  starting  for  the  native  kingdom  of  Bihe,  which  is 
situated  on  the  high  table-lands  of  the  interior. 

Having  obtained  leave  to  join  the  caravan,  Magyar  hired 
an  interpreter,  three  slaves,  six  hammock  bearers,  and  also  a 
man  to  act  as  guard  and  overseer.  The  road  is  a  very  hard 
one,  leading  as  it  does  up  and  over  high  mountain  ranges. 
All  kinds  of  goods  are  slung  on  poles  and  carried  on  the 
shoulders  of  porters,  and  travelers  lie  in  hammocks  and  aro 

carried  in  the  same  manner. 
6 


120  MAGYAR'S  JOURNEY  TO  BIIIE. 

The  caravan,  consisting  of  about  two  thousand  persons,  left 
Benguela  on  the  15th  of  January,  1849,  crossed  a  barren 
level,  to  the  foot-hills  of  the  mountains,  and  soon  began  the 
ascent  of  the  first  mountain  range.  It  then  passed  through 
Kissangi  land.  The  people  here  are  bandit  robbers,  and  Mag- 
yar took  command  of  the  caravan  at  the  request  of  their 
leaders. 

After  passing  Kissangi  land,  they  came  to  Kubale  River 
and  valley — a  beautiful  and  luxuriant  country,  abounding  ia 
picturesque  mountain  streams  and  cataracts.  Then  0113 
mountain  range  after  another  was  passed,  each  one  higher 
than  the  last,  with  vast  plains  at  the  base  of  each  range, 
where  herds  of  buffaloes,  zebras,  and  antelopes  were  seen. 

After  passing  the  Djamba  Range,  and  the  high  table-land 
of  Sambos,  they  arrived  at  the  borders  of  Bihe.  Here  Mag- 
yar visited  the  king,  and  was  permitted  to  settle  in  the  coun- 
try. He  selected  lands,  built  him  a  large  establishment, 
employed  many  servants,  and  became  an  honored  citizen  of 
Bihe. 

Some  time  after  this  the  king,  unsolicited  by  Magyar,  sent 
him  as  a  wife,  his  daughter,  the  Princess  Osoro.  She  was 
fourteen  years  old,  very  pretty,  and  came  attended  by  her 
brothers,  and  a  large  number  of  slaves.  Magyar  accepted 
the  situation,  and  the  wedding  was  immediately  celebrated. 
The  marriage  was  a  happy  one,  and  the  princess  proved  to 
be  a  good  wife  and  mother. 

In  1850,  Magyar  led  a  caravan  of  four  hundred  persons 
into  the  Moluwa  country,  which  lies  north-east  of  Bihe,  and, 
probably,  on  the  western  borders  of  Cazembe.  After  remain- 
ing with  the  Moluwa  people  for  over  a  year,  he  returned  to 
Bihe. 

Afterward,  Magyar  made  several  other  journeys  from 
Bihe,  but  nothing  very  definite  is  known  of  them.  It  is  sup- 
posed that  he  died  about  1856,  leaving  children  who  may 
perhaps  inherit  the  throne  of  their  grandfather,  the  king  of 
Bihe. 

The  inland  exploration  of  Eastern  Africa  may  be  dated 


BURTON,  SPEKE  AND  GRANT.  121 

from  1844,  when  Dr.  Krapf,  of  the  Church  Missionary  Society, 
established  himself  at  Rabbai  Mpia,  near  Mombaz,  about  two 
degrees  north  of  Zanzibar.  This  place  subsequently  became 
the  starting-point  for  several  journeys  into  the  interior,  under- 
taken by  Krapf  and  his  fellow-laborers. 

The  maps  of  these  missionaries  attracted  the  attention  of 
the  Royal  Geographical  Society,  who,  aided  by  the  Govern- 
ment, resolved  to  send  out  an  expedition  to  Eastern  Africa. 
Major  Richard  F.  Burton  was  intrusted  with  its  direction, 
and  having  been  joined  by  Captain  Speke,  a  former  traveling 
companion,  he  set  out  for  Zanzibar,  where  he  arrived  on  the 
19th  of  December,  1856. 

The  expedition  started  from  Kaole,  opposite  Zanzibar,  for 
the  interior,  on  the  27th  of  June,  1857.  Traversing  a  moun- 
tainous track,  which  begins  about  a  hundred  miles  from  the 
coast,  and  nowhere  exceeds  six  thousand  feet  in  height,  they 
reached  the  great  inner  plateau  of  Uriyamwezi  which,  at  Kazeh, 
an  Arab  trading-post,  has  an  elevation  of  three  thousand,  four 
hundred  feet,  and  arrived  at  Ujiji,  on  Lake  Tanganyika,  on 
the  14th  of  February,  1858.  The  lake  extends  three  hundred 
miles  to  the  north  of  Ujiji.  The  travelers  crossed  it  in  boats, 
and  visited  Uvira,  near  its  north  end. 

On  their  journey  back  from  Tanganyika,  Burton  remained 
at  Kazeh,  while  Speke  proceeded  northward,  and  discovered 
the  lake  Victoria  N'yanza,  on  the  30th  of  July,  1858.  Speke 
then  returned  to  Kazeh,  and  the  expedition  returned  to  Zan- 
zibar. Burton  and  Speke  then  went  to  England,  where  they 
arrived  in  May,  1859. 

Another  expedition  under  Captain  Speke  was  immediately 
projected,  its  object  being,  as  was  avowed,  to  establish  the 
truth  of  Speke's  assertion  that  the  Victoria  Nyanza  was  the 
source  of  the  Xile.  In  this  journey  Speke  was  accompanied 
by  his  old  friend,  Captain  Grant. 

The  expedition  started  from  Bagamoyo,  opposite  Zanzibar, 
on  the  2nd  of  October,  1860,  and  proceeded  to  Kazeh,  in 
Unyamwezi.  It  then  started  northward,  explored  the  region 
west  of  Lake  Victoria  X'yanza,  and  passed  along  the  western 


122  BAKER'S  EXPLORATIONS 

and  northern  borders  of  the  lake  to  its  outlet,  at  what  they 
supposed  was  the  White  Nile.  The  travelers  then  went 
northward  to  Gondokoro,  the  head  of  Kile  navigation,  where 
they  arrived  February  15th,  1863. 

At  Gondokoro,  Speke  and  Grant  met  Samuel  "W.  Baker, 
an  Englishman,  who  was  about  starting  into  the  interior  in 
search  of  the  sources  of  the  Nile. 

Mr.  Baker,  accompanied  by  his  wife,  started  from  Cairo 
April  15th,  1861,  to  sail  up  the  Nile.  They  reached  the 
junction  of  the  Atbara  and  Nile  on  the  13th  of  June.  They 
then  traveled,  along  the  banks  of  the  Atbara,  and  explored 
the  Nile  tributaries  of  Abyssinia,  reached  the  Blue  Nile,  and 
descended  that  river  to  its  junction  with  the  Nile  at  Khar- 
toum, where  they  arrived  on  the  llth  of  June,  1862. 

From  Khartoum,  they  started,  December  18th,  1862,  and 
went  up  the  Nile  to  Gondokoro.  Mr.  Baker  was  the  first 
Englishman  who  visited  that  place. 

The  travelers  left  Gondokoro  on  the  night  of  March  26th, 
1863,  traveled  eastward  to  Latooka,  then  southward  to  Obbo, 
where  they  were  detained  for  months  by  the  severe  illness  of 
both.  They  finally  continued  their  journey,  and  on  the  14th 
of  March,  1864,  discovered  a  great  lake,  which  they  named 
the  Albert  N'yanza. 

Setting  out  to  return  home,  they  traveled  up  the  lake  in 
canoes  for  thirteen  days,  and  then  journeyed  by  land  eastward 
and  northward  to  Gondokoro.  Here  they  took  a  boat  for 
Khartoum,  at  which  place  they  arrived  May  5th,  1865. 

As  Burton,  Speke,  and  Grant  traveled  over  much  of  the 
same  road  which  Stanley  took  in  searching  for  Livingstone, 
and  as  Baker  is  now  in  Central  Africa,  and  so  near  Living- 
stone that  a  meeting  between  the  explorers  is  quite  possible, 
their  explorations  will  be  spoken  of  again  in  another  portion 
of  this  book. 


CHAPTER    V. 

LIFE   AND  TRAVELS  OF  DAVID  LIVINGSTONE. 

(EAELY  LIFE.) 

DAYID  LIVINGSTONE,  the  greatest  of  modern  travelers, 
was  born  at  Blaiityre,  on  the  banks  of  the  river  Clyde, 
near  Glasgow,  in  181T.  In  his  autobiography,  which  forms  the 
introduction  to  his  first  book  of  travels,  he  speaks  of  his 
ancestry  as  being  of  the  genuine  Puritan  Scotch  stock.  His 
great-grandfather  fell  at  the  battle  of  Culloden,  fighting  for  the 
independence  of  Scotland.  His  grandfather,  if  not  "the 
chief  of  Ulva's  isle,"  was  a  landlord  on  that  island — one  of  the 
Hebrides — a  farmer  on  a  small  scale. 

The  autobiographer  makes  no  claim  to  a  noble  ancestry, 
as  the  world  generally  counts  nobility,  but  speaks  of  one  of 
them  as  remarkable  for  his  wisdom  and  integrity,  who,  on 
his  death-bed,  called  his  children  around  him  and  said : — 

"  Now,  in  my  life-time,  I  have  searched  most  carefully 
through  all  the  traditions  I  could  find  of  our  family,  and  I 
never  could  discover  that  there  was  a  dishonest  man  among 
our  forefathers.  If,  therefore,  any  of  you  or  any  of  your 
children  should  take  to  dishonest  ways,  it  will  not  be  because 
it  runs  in  our  blood.  It  does  not  belong  to  you.  I  leave 
this  precept  with  you  :  '  Be  honest.'  " 

What  makes  this  declaration  the  more  remarkable  is,  that 
the  Highlanders  of  this  period,  according  to  Macaulay.  were 
as  much  freebooters  as  the  Caffres  of  South  Africa,  and  any 
one  could  escape  punishment  for  cattle  stealing,  by  sharing 
his  plunder  with  his  chieftain. 

123 


LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

The  Hebrides  furnished  meagre  advantages  for  education, 
but  such  as  they  were  the  Livingstone's  prized  them  ;  and 
when  the  grandfather  of  Dr.  Livingstone,  compelled  by  the 
wants  of  his  large  family,  removed  from  Ulva  to  the  vicinity 
of  Glasgow,  so  that  his  children  might  find  employment  in 
the  factories,  his  sons  soon  found  situations  as  clerks ;  and 
such  was  his  reputation  for  honesty  that  the  proprietors, 
Monteith  &  Co.,  entrusted  him  with  the  conveyance  of  large 
sums  of  money  from  the  city  to  the  factory,  and  in  compen- 
sation for  his  faithful  services,  made  his  old  age  comfortable  by 
granting  him  a  pension. 

The  father  of  David  Livingstone  became  a  tea-merchant 
in  Hamilton;  near  Glasgow,  and  was  highly  respected  as  a  man, 
though  he  never  succeeded  in  acquiring  wealth.  The  Doctor 
says  of  him : — "  lie  was  too  conscientious  ever  to  become 
rich,  but  by  his  kindliness  of  manner  and  winning  ways, 
he  made  the  heart-strings  of  his  children  twine  around 
him,  as  firmly  as  if  he  had  possessed  and  could  have  bestowed 
upon  them  every  worldly  advantage." 

For  the  last  twenty  years  of  his  life  he  was  deacon  in  an 
Independent  church,  but  in  his  younger  days  he  was  connect- 
ed with  the  regular  Kirk  of  Scotland.  The  son  acknowledges 
his  lasting  gratitude  for  the  consistent  pious  example  set 
before  him  by  his  father,  such  as  is  beautifully  portrayed  in 
Burns'  "  Cottar's  Saturday  Night."  He  also  speaks  of  his 
mother,  as  the  anxious  housewife  striving  to  make  both  ends 
meet. 

At  the  age  of  ten  years  David  was  put  to  work  in  the  fac- 
tory, as  a  "piecer,"  that  he  might  eke  out  the  scanty  supplies  of 
the  family.  His  account  of  this  period  of  his  life  is  EO  inter- 
esting and  so  full  of  encouragement  to  poor  boys,  that  we 
give  it  entire  in  his  own  words. 

"With  a  part  of  my  first  week's  wages  I  purchased  Ruddi- 
man's  "  Rudiments  of  Latin,"  and  pursued  the  study  of  that 
language  for  many  years  afterward^,  with  unabated  ardor,  at 
an  evening  school  which  met  between  the  hours  of  eight  and 
ten.  The  dictionary  part  of  my  labors  was  followed  up  till 


HIGHLAND  ANCESTORS— EARLY  EDUCATION.  125 

twelve  o'clock,  or  later,  if  my  mother  did  not  interfere  by 
jumping  up  and  snatching  the  books  out  of  my  hands.  I 
had  to  be  back  in  the  factory  by  six  in  the  morning,  and  con- 
tinue my  work,  with  intervals  for  breakfast  and  dinner,  till 
eight  o'clock  at  night.  I  read  in  this  way  many  of  the  class- 
ical authors,  and  knew  Yirgil  and  Horace  better  at  sixteen 
than  I  do  now.  Our  school-master  was  supported  in  part  by 
the  company ;  he  was  attentive  and  kind,  and  so  moderate  in 
his  charges  that  all  who  wished  for  an  education  might  have 
obtained  it.  Some  of  my  school-fellows  now  rank  in  posi- 
tions far  above  what  they  appeared  ever  likely  to  come  to 
when  in  the  village  school. 

"In  reading,  every  thing  that  I  could  lay  my  hands  on  was 
devoured  except  novels.  Scientific  works  and  books  of 
travel  were  my  especial  delight,  though  my  father  believing, 
with  many  of  his  time  who  ought  to  have  known  better,  that 
the  former  were  inimical  to  religion,  would  have  preferred 
to  have  seen  me  poring  over  the  "  Cloud  of  Witnesses,"  or 
Burton's  "  Fourfold  State."  Our  difference  of  opinion 
reached  the  point  of  open  rebellion  on  my  part,  and  his  last 
application  of  the  rod  was  on  my  refusal  to  peruse  "VVilber- 
force's  "  Practical  Christianity."  This  dislike  to  dry  doctrinal 
reading,  and  to  religious  reading  of  every  sort,  continued  for 
years  afterward ;  but  having  lighted  on  those  admirable 
works  of  Dr.  Thomas  Dick,  "  The  Philosophy  of  a  Future 
State,"  and  "  The  Philosophy  of  Eeligion,"  it  was  gratifying 
to  find  my  own  ideas,  that  religion  and  science  are  not  hos- 
tile, but  friendly  to  each  other,  fully  proved  and  enforced." 

The  seeds  of  Christian  truth  so  faithfully  sown  by  the 
parents  took  early  root  in  the  heart  of  the  child.  He  com- 
prehended from  childhood  the  theory  of  free  salvation  by 
the  atonement  of  Christ,  but  it  was  not  till  he  was  almost 
sixteen  years  of  age  that  he  began  to  feel  the  necessity  and 
value  of  a  personal  application  of  the  provisions  of  this  atone- 
ment. He  describes  the  change  which  came  over  his  feelings 
and  purposes  as  similar  to  what  may  be  supposed  would  take 
place  were  it  possible  to  cure  a  case  of  "  color  blindness." 


126  LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

In  the  glow  of  love  which  Christianity  inspired,  he  resolved 
to  devote  his  life  to  the  alleviation  of  human  misery.  His 
first  desire  and  purpose  were  to  be  a  pioneer  of  Christianity 
in  China,  and  in  order  to  be  qualified  for  the  enterprise,  he  set 
himself  to  the  study  of  medicine.  The  medical  books,  among 
other  sciences,  led  him  to  the  study  of  botany,  and  he  scoured 
the  whole  country  in  search  of  medicinal  plants,  "  collecting 
simples,"  as  he  expresses  it. 

In  these  excursions,  which  gratified  his  intense  love  of 
nature,  he  was  often  accompanied  by  his  brothers,  and  they 
wandered  far  and  wide  till  fatigue  and  hunger  compelled 
them  to  desist.  He  was  thus  unconsciously  fitting  himself 
for  long  marches  in  the  jungles  and  sands  of  Africa. 

An  incident  in  one  of  these  excursions  around  Glasgow,  in 
search  of  geological  and  botanical  specimens,  so  aptly  illus- 
trates his  own  investigating  disposition,  and  the  blunt  char- 
acter of  the  Scotchman,  that  we  must  give  it  in  his  own 
words : — 

"  It  is  impossible  to  describe  the  delight  and  wonder  with 
which  I  began  to  collect  the  shells  in  the  carboniferous  lime- 
stone, which  crops  out  in  High  Blantyre  and  Cambuslang. 
A  quarry-man,  seeing  a  little  boy  so  engaged,  looked  with 
that  pitying  eye,  which  the  benevolent  assume  when  viewing 
the  insane.  Addressing  him  with  : — 

" '  However  did  those  shells  come  into  these  rocks  ?' 

" '  When  God  made  the  rocks,  He  made  the  shells  in  them,' 
was  the  damping  reply  of  the  quarry-man. 

"  "What  a  deal  of  trouble  geologists  might  have  saved  them- 
selves by  adopting  the  Turk-like  philosophy  of  this  Scotch- 
man !" 

"While  at  work  in  the  factory,  his  custom  was  to  place  a 
book  on  the  spinning-jenny,  so  that  he  could  read  a  sentence 
each  time  he  passed  back  and  forth.  Keeping  his  attention 
thus  fixed  in  the  midst  of  a  cotton  factory,  was  a  source  of 
mental  discipline  which  few  enjoy ;  but  some  of  our  mothers 
practiced  on  a  similar  plan  in  the  early  history  of  our  country, 
as  they  frequently  placed  a  book  over  the  distaff  as  they  spun 


LOVE  OF  READING— YOUTHFUL  TRAVELS.       127 

their  flax,  or  over  the  spindle  as  they  spun  wool,  and  thus 
read  Milton,  Young,  and  all  the  old  English  authors,  with 
which  they  became  more  familiar  than  are  some  of  their 
daughters,  who  know  nothing  of  spinning  or  weaving,  and 
have  three-fold  advantages  for  acquiring  an  education. 

By  such  economy  of  his  time,  and  by  such  habits  of  abstrac- 
tion, young  Livingstone  fitted  himself  for  his  career  among 
the  barbarians  of  Africa,  where  he  says  he  could  read  and 
write  with  perfect  comfort  amid  the  play  of  children,  or  near 
the  dancing  and  songs  of  the  savages. 

In  his  nineteenth  year  he  was  promoted  to  the  duties  of 
cotton-spinning,  for  which  he  was  well  paid,  though  the  labor 
was  severe  on  a  slim,  loose-jointed  lad  as  he  was.  He  thus 
laid  up  something  to  support  himself,  while  attending  medi- 
cal and  Greek  lessons  in  Glasgow,  and  the  Divinity  lectures 
of  Dr.  Wardlaw. 

Up  to  this  time  he  had  never  received  a  farthing  of  aid 
from  any  one,  and  fully  intended  to  carry  out  his  plan  of  fit- 
ting himself  for  a  missionary  to  China,  without  assistance 
from  others.  Some  friends,  however,  persuaded  him  to  apply 
to  the  London  Missionary  Society,  representing  that  it  was  a 
perfectly  unsectarian  organization.  "  It  sends  neither  Epis- 
copacy, nor  Presbyterianism,  nor  Independency,  but  the  Gos- 
pel of  Christ  to  the  heathen."  This  exactly  coincided  with 
what  he  thought  a  missionary  society  ought  to  be,  and  with 
some  pangs  of  regret  at  losing  his  independence,  he  oifered  his 
services  to  this  society,  and  was  accepted. 

In  looking  over  his  early  life  of  toil  and  self  denial,  he  says, 
"  I  can  not  but  feel  grateful  that  labor  formed  such  a  material 
part  of  my  education,  and  were  it  possible,  I  should  like  to 
begin  life  over  again  in  the  same  lonely  style,  and  to  pass 
through  the  same  hardy  training." 

Dr.  Livingstone  ever  retained  pleasant  remembrances  of 
his  childhood,  and  much  respect  for  the  humble,  but  honest 
and  intelligent  inhabitants  of  his  native  village,  and  in  after 
life,  ever  spoke  of  them  as  good  specimens  of  the  Scottish 
poor.  Among  them  were  some  characters  of  sterling  worth 


1-2$  LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

and  ability,  who  exerted  a  most  beneficial  influence  on  tlie 
children  and  youth  of  the  place,  by  imparting  gratuitous 
religious  instruction.  In  a  note  to  his  first  book  of  travels, 
he  refers  particularly  to  one  of  them,  David  Hogg,  who  thus 
addressed  him  on  his  dying  bed : — 

"Now,  lad,  make  religion  the  every  day  business  of  your 
life,  and  not  a  thing  of  fits  and  starts ;  for  if  you  do  not, 
temptation  and  other  things  will  get  the  better  of  you." 

Good,  sound  advice,  this,  adapted  to  all  times  and  all  climes. 
It  is  not  difficult  to  trace  the  origin  of  Dr.  Livingstone's  pro- 
clivities to  a  missionary  life.  The  twig  wras  early  bent  in  this 
direction. 

After  having  been  accepted  by  the  London  Missionary 
Society,  young  Livingstone  spent  two  years  at  Chipping 
Ongar,  England,  a  training  school  for  missionary  candidates. 
Here,  he  pursued  with  ardor  the  study  of  theology,  and  fur- 
ther perfected  himself  in  medicine,  and  was  admitted  as  a 
licentiate  of  the  faculty  of  physicians  and  surgeons,  and  was 
also  regularly  ordained  as  a  clergyman.  It  was  with  unfeigned 
delight  that  he  found  himself  a  member  of  these  professions, 
which  he  esteemed  as  prominently  devoted  to  practical  benev- 
olence. 

Having  finished  the  curriculum  of  studies  designed  espe- 
cially for  missionary  culture,  he  was  full  of  zeal  to  devote  his 
energies  to  the  cause  of  God  and  humanity  in  heathen  lands. 
China  was  his  favorite  field,  but  the  opium  war  was  now 
raging,  and  it  \vas  deemed  expedient  that  his  destination 
should  be  changed  to  Africa. 

For  this  latter  country  he  accordingly  embarked  in  184:0, 
and  never  regretted  that  this  unexplored  continent  was  desig- 
nated as  the  field  of  his  life-long,  self-denying  labors. 


BEV.   ROBERT   MOFFAT,    LL.  D. 

MISSIONARY  IN  SOUTHERN  AFRICA  FROM  1817  T0  1870. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

LIVINGSTONE'S   VISIT    TO    THE    BAKWAIN 
COUNTRY. 

A  FTER  a  voyage  of  three  months  Livingstone  landed  at 
J-X  Cape  Town,  whence,  without  delay,  he  started  for  the 
interior,  going  by  water  to  Algoa  Bay.  The  general  instruc- 
tions which  he  had  received  from  the  Missionary  Society, 
were  that  he  should  proceed  to  Kuruman,  the  farthest  inland 
station  from  the  Cape,  where  was  located  the  veteran  Afri- 
can missionary  Dr.  Moffat,  and  thence  strike  out  for  the 
unexplored  regions  of  the  north  and  establish  a  new  station 
wherever  he  considered  it  most  advisable. 

In  Dr.  Moffat,  the  young  missionary  found  a  true  friend 
and  wise  counsellor.  The  Dr.  had  been  more  than  twenty 
years  in  the  field,  and  understood  the  African  character  well. 

Kuruman  was  a  delightful  station,  selected  by  Dr.  Moffat 
on  account  of  the  ever-flowing  fountain  of  that  name,  which 
issues  from  beneath  the  trap  rock,  and  irrigates  the  country 
for  miles  below.  The  temptation  to  remain  in  this 
pleasant  place,  and  in  the  delightful  family  of  Dr. 
Moffat,  must  have  been  great  to  the  young  missionary, 
especially  when  we  consider  that  here  he  first  saw  her  who 
was  to  be  the  future  companion  of  his  life — the  daughter  of 
his  host,  whom  four  years  afterward  he  married. 

"Without  waiting  longer  at  Kuruman  than  was  necessary  to 
recruit  the  oxen  after  their  long  journey  from  Algoa 
Bay,  he  pushed  on  north,  exploring  as  far  as  the  Bakwain 
country.  Here  he  made  the  acquaintance  of  Sechele,  a  chief 
of  the  tribe,  a  remarkably  good  specimen  of  the  African,  who 

131 


132  LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND   TRAVELS. 

•with  his  tribe  was  located  at  Shokuane.  Livingstone  was 
from  the  first  struck  with  the  manliness  and  intelligence  of 
Sechele,  who  was  also  favorably  impressed  with  the  young 
missionary,  and  afterwards  embraced  Christianity.  As 
Sechele  was  among  the  first  fruits  of  Livingstone's  labors, 
and  as  his  story  will  illustrate  the  character  and  mode  of  life 
of  an  African  chief,  we  give  it  in  Livingstone's  words. 

"  His  great-grandfather  Mochoasele  was  a  great  traveler, 
and  the  first  that  ever  told  the  Bakwains  of  the  existence  of 
white  men.  In  his  father's  lifetime  two  white  travelers, 
whom  I  suppose  to  have  been  Dr.  Cowan  and  Captain 
Donovan,  passed  through  the  country  (in  1808),  and,  descend- 
ing the  River  Limpopo,  were,  with  their  party,  all  cut  off  by 
fever.  The  rain-makers  there,  fearing  lest  their  wagons 
might  drive  away  the  rain,  ordered  them  to  be  thrown  into 
the  river.  This  is  the  true  account  of  the  end  of  that  expe- 
dition, as  related  to  me  by  the  son  of  the  chief  at  whose  vil- 
lage they  perished.  He  remembered,  when  a  boy,  eating 
part  of  one  of  the  horses,  and  said  it  tasted  like  zebra's  flesh. 
Thus  they  were  not  killed  by  the  Bangwaketse,  as  reported, 
for  they  passed  the  Bakwains  all  wrell.  The  Bakwains  were 
then  rich  in  cattle ;  and  as  one  of  the  many  evidences  of  the 
desiccation  of  the  country,  streams  are  pointed  out  where 
thousands  and  thousands  of  cattle  formerly  drank,  but  in 
which  water  now  never  flows,  and  where  a  single  herd  could 
not  find  fluid  for  its  support. 

"When  Sechele  was  still  a  boy,  his  father,  also  called 
Mochoasele,  was  murdered  by  his  own  people  for  taking  to 
himself  the  wives  of  his  rich  under-chiefs.  The  children 
being  spared,  their  friends  invited  Sebituane,  the  chief  of  the 
Makololo,  who  was  then  in  those  parts,  to  reinstate  them  in 
the  chieftainship.  Sebituane  surrounded  the  town  of  the 
Bakwains  by  night ;  and  just  as  it  began  to  dawn,  his  herald 
proclaimed  in  a  loud  voice  that  he  had  come  to  revenge  the 
death  of  Mochoasele.  This  was  followed  by  Sebituane's 
people  beating  loudly  on  their  shields  all  round  the  town. 
The  panic  was  tremendous,  and  the  rush  like  that  from  a 


AN  EXCURSION  TO  THE  BAKWAIN  COUNTRY.  133 

theatre  on  fire,  while  the  Makololo  used  their  javelins  on  the 
terrified  Bakwains  with  a  dexterity  which  they  alone  can 
employ. 

"  Sebituane  had  given  orders  to  his  men  to  spare  the 
sons  of  the  chief ;  and  one  of  them,  meeting  Sechele,  put 
him  in  ward  by  giving  him  such  a  blow  on  the  head  with  a 
club  as  to  render  him  insensible.  The  usurper  was  put  to 
death ;  and  Sechele,  reinstated  in  his  chieftainship,  felt  much 
attached  to  Sebituane.  The  circumstances  here  noticed  ulti- 
mately led  me,  as  will  be  seen  by-and-by,  into  the  new,  well- 
watered  country  to  which  this  same  Sebituane  had  preceded 
me  by  many  years. 

"  Sechele  married  the  daughters  of  three  of  his  under-chief  s, 
who  had,  on  account  of  their  blood  relationship,  stood  by 
him  in  his  adversity.  This  is  one  of  the  modes  adopted  for 
cementing  the  allegiance  of  a  tribe. 

"  The  government  is  patriarchal,  each  man  being,  by  virtue 
of  paternity,  chief  of  his  own  children.  They  build  their 
huts  around  his,  and  the  greater  the  number  of  children,  the 
more  his  importance  increases.  Hence  children  are  esteemed 
one  of  the  greatest  blessings,  and  are  always  treated  kindly. 
Near  the  centre  of  each  circle  of  huts,  there  is  a  spot  called  a 
"  kotla,"  with  a  fire-place ;  here  they  work,  eat,  or  sit,  and 
gossip  over  the  news  of  the  day.  A  poor  man  attaches  him- 
self to  the  kotla  of  a  rich  one,  and  is  considered  a  child  of 
the  latter 

"  An  under-chief  has  a  number  of  these  circles  around  his ; 
and  the  collection  of  kotlas  around  the  great  one  in  the  mid- 
dle of  the  whole,  that  of  the  principal  chief,  constitutes  the 
town.  The  circle  of  huts  immediately  around  the  kotla  of 
the  chief,  is  composed  of  the  huts  of  his  wives,  and  those  of 
his  blood  relations.  He  attaches  the  under-chief  s  to  himself 
and  his  government  by  marrying,  as  Sechele  did,  their  daugh- 
ters, or  inducing  his  brothers  to  do  so.  They  are  fond  of  the 
relationship  to  great  families.  If  you  meet  a  party  of  stran- 
gers, and  the  head  man's  relationship  to  some  uncle  of  a  cer- 


LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

tain  chief  is  not  at  once  proclaimed  by  his  attendants,  you 
may  hear  him  whispering,  '  Tell  him  who  I  am.' 

"  This  usually  involves  a  counting  on  the  fingers  of  a  part 
of  his  genealogical  tree,  and  ends  in  the  important  announce- 
ment, that  the  head  of  the  party  is  half-cousin  to  some  well- 
known  ruler. 

"  Sechele  was  thus  seated  in  his  chieftainship  when  I  made 
his  acquaintance.  On  the  first  occasion  in  which  I  ever 
attempted  to  hold  a  public  religious  service,  he  remarked  that 
it  was  the  custom  of  his  nation,  when  any  new  subject  was 
brought  before  them,  to  put  questions  on  it ;  and  he  begged 
me  to  allow  him  to  do  the  same  in  this  case.  On  expressing 
my  entire  willingness  to  answer  his  questions,  he  inquired  if 
my  forefathers  knew  of  a  future  judgment.  I  replied  in  the 
affirmative,  and  began  to  describe  the  scene  of  the  l  great 
white  throne,  and  Him  who  shall  sit  on  it,  from  whose  face 
the  heaven  and  earth  shall  flee  away,'  etc. 

"  He  said,  *  You  startle  me :  these  words  make  all  my  bones 
to  shake ;  I  have  no  more  strength  in  me ;  but  my  forefathers 
were  living  at  the  same  time  yours  were,  and  how  is  it  that 
they  did  not  send  them  word  about  these  terrible  things 
sooner  ?  They  all  passed  away  into  darkness,  without  know- 
ing whither  they  were  going.' 

"  I  got  out  of  the  difficulty  by  explaining  the  geographical 
barriers  in  the  North,  and  the  gradual  spread  of  knowledge 
from  the  South,  to  which  we  first  had  access  by  means  of 
ships ;  and  I  expressed  my  belief  that,  as  Christ  had  said,  the 
whole  world  would  yet  be  enlightened  by  the  Gospel.  Point- 
ing to  the  great  Kalahari  Desert,  he  said, 

" '  You  never  can  cross  that  country  to  the  tribes  beyond ; 
it  is  utterly  impossible  even  for  us  black  men,  except  in  cer- 
tain seasons,  when  more  than  the  usual  supply  of  rain  falls, 
and  an  extraordinary  growth  of  watermelons  follows.  Even 
we  who  know  the  country  would  certainly  perish  without 
them.' 

"  Reasserting  my  belief  in  the  words  of  Christ,  we  parted  ; 
and  it  will  be  seen  farther  on,  that  Sechele  himself  assisted 


LIFE  OF  AN  AFRICAN  CHIEF.  135 

me  in  crossing  that  desert  which  had  previously  proved  an 
insurmountable  barrier  to  so  many  adventurers. 

"  As  soon  as  he  had  an  opportunity  of  learning,  he  set  him- 
self to  read  with  such  close  application  that,  from  being  com- 
paratively thin,  the  effect  of  having  been  fond  of  the  chase, 
he  became  quite  corpulent  from  want  of  exercise.  Mr.  Oswell 
gave  him  his  first  lesson  in  figures,  and  he  acquired  the  alpha- 
bet on  the  first  day  of  my  residence  at  Chonuane.  He  was 
by  no  means  an  ordinary  specimen  of  the  people,  for  I  never 
went  into  the  town,  but  I  was  pressed  to  hear  him  read  some 
chapters  of  the  Bible.  Isaiah  was  a  great  favorite  with  him  ; 
and  he  was  wont  to  use  the  same  phrase  nearly,  which  the 
professor  of  Greek  at  Glasgow,  Sir  D.  K.  Sandford,  once  used 
respecting  the  Apostle  Paul,  when  reading  his  speeches  in 
the  Acts : — 

" '  He  was  a  fine  fellow,  that  Paul !' 

"  '  He  was  a  fine  man,  that  Isaiah  ;  he  knew  how  to  speak.' 

"  Sechele  invariably  offered  me  something  to  eat  on  every 
occasion  of  my  visiting  him. 

"Seeing  me  anxious  that  his  people  should  believe  the  words 
of  Christ,  he  once  said,  '  Do  you  imagine  these  people  will 
ever  believe  by  your  merely  talking  to  them  ?  I  can  make 
them  do  nothing  except  by  thrashing  them  ;  and  if  you  like, 
I  shall  call  my  head  men,  and  with  our  litupa  (whips  of 
rhinoceros  hide )  we  will  soon  make  them  all  believe  togeth- 
er.' 

"  The  idea  of  using  entreaty  and  persuasion  to  subjects  to 
become  Christians — whose  opinion  on  no  other  matter 
would  he  condescend  to  ask — was  especially  surprising  to 
him.  He  considered  that  they  ought  only  to  be  too  happy 
to  embrace  Christianity  at  his  command.  During  the  space 
of  two  years  and  a  half  he  continued  to  profess  to  his  people 
his  full  conviction  of  the  truth  of  Christianity  ;  and  in  all  dis- 
cussions on  the  subject  he  took  that  side,  acting  at  the  same 
time  in  an  upright  manner  in  all  the  relations  of  life.  He 
felt  the  difficulties  of  his  situation  long  before  I  did,  and  often 
said, 


136  LIVINGSTONE  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

"Oh,  I  wish  you  had  come  to  this  country  before  I 
became  entangled  in  the  meshes  of  our  customs ! '  In  fact, 
he  could  not  get  rid  of  his  superfluous  wives,  without  appear- 
ing to  be  ungrateful  to  their  parents,  who  had  done  so  much 
for  him  in  his  adversity. 

"  In  the  hope  that  others  would  be  induced  to  join  him  in 
his  attachment  to  Christianity,  he  asked  me  to  begin  family 
worship  with  him  in  his  house.  I  did  so;  and  by-and-by 
was  surprised  to  hear  how  well  he  conducted  the  prayer 
in  his  own  simple  and  beautiful  style,  for  he  was  quite  a 
master  of  his  own  language.  At  this  time  we  were  suffering 
from  the  effects  of  a  drought,  which  will  be  described  further 
on,  and  none  except  his  family,  whom  he  ordered  to  attend, 
came  near  his  meeting. 

"  *  In  former  times,'  said  he,  '  when  a  chief  was  fond  of 
hunting,  all  his  people  got  dogs,  and  became  fond  of  hunting 
too.  If  he  was  fond  of  dancing  or  music,  all  showed  a  liking 
to  these  amusements  too.  If  the  chief  loved  beer,  they  all 
rejoiced  in  strong  drink.  But  in  this  case  it  is  different. 
I  love  the  Word  of  God,  and  not  one  of  my  brethren  will 
join  me.'  One  reason  why  we  had  no  volunteer  hypocrites 
was  the  hunger  from  drought,  which  was  associated  in  their 
minds  with  the  presence  of  Christian  instruction ;  and  hypoc- 
ocrisy  is  not  prone  to  profess  a  creed  which  seems  to  insure 
an  empty  stomach. 

"  Sechele  continued  to  make  a  consistent  profession  for  about 
three  years ;  and  perceiving  at  last  some  of  the  difficulties  of 
his  case,  and  also  feeling  compassion  for  the  poor  women,  who 
were  by  far  the  best  of  our  scholars,  I  had  no  desire  that  he 
should  be  in  any  hurry  to  make  a  full  profession'  by  baptism, 
and  putting  away  all  wives  but  one.  His  principal  wife,  too, 
was  about  the  most  unlikely  subject  in  the  tribe  ever  to 
become  any  thing  else  than  an  out-and-out  greasy  disciple  of 
the  old  school.  She  has  since  become  greatly  altered,  I  hear, 
for  the  better ;  but  again  and  again  have  I  seen  Sechele  send 
her  out  of  church  to  put  her  gown  on,  and  away  she  would 


SCHELE  AND  HIS  SUPERFLUOUS  WIVES.  137 

go  with  her  lips  shot  out,  the  very  picture  of  unutterable  dis- 
gust at  his  new  fangled  notions. 

"When  he  at  last  applied  for  baptism,  I  simply  asked  him 
how  he,  having  the  Bible  in  his  hand,  and  able  to  read  it, 
thought  he  ought  to  act.  He  went  home,  gave  each  of  his 
superfluous  wives  new  clothing,  and  all  his  own  goods,  which 
they  had  been  accustomed  to  keep  in  their  huts  for  him,  and 
sent  them  to  their  parents  with  an  intimation  that  he  had  no 
fault  to  find  with  them,  but  that  in  parting  with  them  he 
wished  to  follow  the  will  of  God.  On  the  day  on  which  he 
and  his  children  were  baptized,  great  numbers  came  to  see 
the  ceremony.  Some  thought,  from  a  stupid  calumny  circu- 
lated by  enemies  to  Christianity  in  the  south,  that  the  con- 
verts would  be  made  to  drink  an  infusion  of  "dead  men's 
brains,"  and  were  astonished  to  find  that  water  only  was  used 
at  baptism.  Seeing  several  of  the  old  men  actually  in  tears 
during  the  service,  I  asked  them  afterward  the  cause  of  their 
weeping ;  they  were  crying  to  see  their  father,  as  the  Scotch 
remark  over  a  case  of  suicide,  "  so  far  left  to  himself."  They 
seemed  to  think  that  I  had  thrown  the  glamour  over  him, 
and  that  he  had  become  mine. 

"Here  commenced  an  opposition  which  we  had  not  previous- 
ly experienced.  All  the  friends  of  the  divorced  wives  became 
the  opponents  of  our  religion.  The  attendance  at  school  and 
church  diminished  to  very  few  besides  the  chiefs  own  fam- 
ily. They  all  treated  us  still  with  respectful  kindness,  but  to 
Sechele  himself  they  said  things  which,  as  he  often  remarked, 
had  they  ventured  on  in  fonner  times,  would  have  cost  them 
their  lives.  It  was  trying,  after  all  we  had  done,  to  see  our 
labors  so  little  appreciated ;  but  we  had  sown  the  good  seed, 
and  have  no  doubt  but  it  will  yet  spring  up,  though  we  may 
not  live  too  see  the  fruits." 


CHAPTER  VII. 
LIVINGSTONE  AT  KOLOBENG. 

HAVING  explored  the  Bakwain  country  and  made  a  favor- 
able impression  on  the  natives,  Livingstone  returned  to 
Kuruman  to  counsel  with  his  friend  Dr.  Moffat,  and  learn  what 
lie  could  from  the  veteran  missionary,  before  he  settled  down 
in  a  station  of  his  own.  Possibly  the  attractions  of  Miss 
Moffat  had  some  influence  in  inducing  him  to  make  the 
parsonage  at  Kuruman  his  head-quarters  for  study. 

He  remained  at  Kurumap  three  months,  and  then  finding 
that  the  best  mode  for  learning  the  language  of  the  natives 
was  to  cut  himself  off  from  all  European  society,  he  took  a 
fresh  start  into  the  interior,  and  settled  at  a  place  called 
Lepelole,  about  fifteen  miles  south  of  Shokuane,  the  resid  ence 
of  his  friend  Sechele.  In  this  seclusion,  he  gained  a  pretty 
thorough  insight  into  the  ways  of  thinking,  habits,  laws,  and 
language  of  that  section  of  the  Bechuanas,  called  Bakwain  8. 

After  preparing  for  a  permanent  settlement  at  Lepelole  by 
making  a  canal  to  irrigate  gardens,  Livingstone  started  on 
another  exploring  expedition  northward,  to  visit  the  Bakaa 
and  Bamangwato,  and  the  Makalaka. 

"The  Bakaa  Mountains  had  been  visited  before  by  a 
trader,  who,  with  his  people,  all  perished  from  fever.  In 
going  round  the  northern  part  of  these  basaltic  hills  near 
Letloche  I  was  only  ten  days  distant  from  the  lower  part  of 
of  the  Zouga,  which  passed  by  the  same  name  as  Lake 
N  garni :  and  I  might  then  (in  1842)  have  discovered  that  lake, 

138 


A  JOURNEY  ON  OX-BACK.  139 

had  discovery  alone  been  my  object.  Most  part  of  this  jour- 
ney beyond  Shokuane  was  performed  on  foot,  in  consequence 
of  the  draught  oxen  having  become  sick.  Some  of  my 
companions  who  had  recently  joined  us,  and  did  not  know 
that  I  understood  a  little  of  their  speech  were  overheard  by 
me  discussing  my  appearance  and  powers  : — 

"  'He  is  not  strong ;  he  is  quite  slim,  and  only  appears  stout 
because  he  puts  himself  into  those  bags  (trowsers) ;  he  will 
soon  knock  up.' 

"  This  caused  my  Highland  blood  to  rise,  ana  made  me 
despise  the  fatigue  of  keeping  them  all  at  the  top  of  their 
speed  for  days  together,  and  until  I  heard  them  expressing 
proper  opinions  of  my  pedestrian  powers. 

"  Returning  to  Kuruman,  in  order  to  bring  my  luggage  to 
our  proposed  settlement,  I  was  followed  by  the  news  that 
the  Bakwains,  who  had  shown  themselves  so  friendly  toward 
me,  had  been  driven  from  Lepelole  by  the  Barolongs,  so  that 
my  prospects,  for  the  time,  of  forming  a  settlement  there 
were  at  an  end. 

"  One  of  those  periodical  outbreaks  of  war,  which  seem  to 
have  occurred  from  time  immemorial  for  the  possession  of 
cattle,  had  burst  forth  in  the  land,  and  had  so  changed  the 
relations  of  the  tribes  to  each  other,  that  I  was  obliged  to  set 
out  anew  to  look  for  a  suitable  locality  for  a  mission  station. 

"As  some  of  the  Bamangwato  people  had  accompanied 
me  to  Kuruman,  I  was  obliged  to  restore  them  and  their 
goods  to  their  chief  Sekomi.  This  made  a  journey  to  the 
residence  of  that  chief  again  necessary,  and,  for  the  first  time, 
I  performed  a  distance  of  some  hundred  miles  on  ox-back. 

"Returning  towards  Kuruman,  I  selected  the  beautiful 
valley  of  Mabotsa,  as  the  site  of  a  missionary  station,  and 
thither  I  removed  in  1843.  Here  an  occurrence  took  place 
concerning  which  I  have  been  frequently  questioned  in 
England,  and  which,  but  for  the  importunities  of  friends,  I 
meant  to  have  kept  in  store  to  tell  my  children  when  in  my 
dotage.  The  Bakatla  of  the  village  of  Mabotsa,  were  much 
troubled  by  lions,  which  leaped  into  the  cattle-pens  by  night, 


140  LIVINGSTONE  AND  HIS  TRAVELS. 

and  destroyed  their  cows.  They  even  attacked  the  herds  in 
open  day.  This  was  so  unusual  an  occurrence  that  the  peo- 
ple believed  they  were  bewitched — "given,"  as  they  said, 
"  into  the  power  of  the  lions  by  a  neighboring  tribe."  They 
wont  once  to  attack  the  animals,  but  being  rather  a  cowardly 
people  compared  to  Bechuanas  in  general  on  such  occasions, 
they  returned  without  killing  any. 

"  It  is  well  known  that  if  one  of  a  troop  of  lions  is  killed, 
the  others  take  the  hint  and  leave  that  part  of  the  country. 
So,  the  next  time  the  herds  were  attacked,  I  went  with  the 
people,  in  order  to  encourage  them  to  rid  themselves  of  the 
annoyance  by  destroying  one  of  the  marauders.  We  found 
the  lions  on  a  small  hill  about  a  quarter  of  a  mile  in  length, 
and  covered  with  trees.  A  circle  of  men  was  formed  round 
it,  and  they  gradually  closed  up,  ascending  pretty  near  to 
each  other.  Being  down  below  on  the  plain  with  a  native 
schoolmaster,  named  Mebalwe,  a  most  excellent  man,  I  saw 
one  of  the  lions  sitting  on  a  piece  of  rock  within  the  now- 
closed  circle  of  men.  Mebalwe  fired  at  him  before  I  could, 
and  the  ball  struck  the  rock  on  which  the  animal  was  sitting. 
lie  bit  at  the  spot  struck,  as  a  dog  does  at  a  stick  or  stone 
thrown  at  him  ;  then  leaping  away,  broke  through  the  open- 
ing circle  and  escaped  unhurt.  The  men  were  afraid  to 
attack  him,  perhaps  on  account  of  their  belief  in  witchcraft. 
"When  the  circle  was  re-formed,  we  saw  two  other  lions  in  it ; 
but  we  were vaf raid  to  fire  lest  we  should  strike  the  men,  and 
they  allowed  the  beasts  to  burst  through  also.  If  the  Bakatla 
had  acted  according  to  the  custom  of  the  country,  they  would 
have  speared  the  lions  in  their  attempt  to  get  out. 

"  Seeing  we  could  not  get  them  to  kill  one  of  the  lions,  we 
bent  our  footsteps  towards  the  village ;  in  going  round  the 
end  of  the  hill,  however,  I  saw  one  of  the  beasts  sitting  on  a 
piece  of  rock  as  before,  but  this  time  he  had  a  little  bush  in 
front.  Being  about  thirty  yards  off,  I  took  a  good  aim  at  his 
body  through  the  bush,  and  fired  both  barrels  into  it.  The 
men  then  called  out  "  He  is  shot,  he  is  shot !  "  Others  cried, 
"  He  has  been  shot  by  another  man  too ;  let  us  go  to  him  I ' 


ADVENTURE  WITH  A  LIOX.  14-3 

I  did  not  see  any  one  else  shoot  at  him,  but  I  saw  the  lion's 
tail  erected  in  anger  behind  the  bush,  and  turning  to  the 
people,  said  "  Stop  a  little,  till  I  load  again." 

"  When  in  the  act  of  ramming  down  the  bullets,  I  heard  a 
shout.  Starting,  and  looking  half  round,  I  saw  the  lion  just 
in  the  act  of  springing  upon  me.  I  was  upon  a  little  height ; 
he  caught  my  shoulder  as  he  sprang,  and  we  both  came  to 
the  ground  below  together.  Growling  horribly  close  to  my 
ear,  he  shook  me  as  a  terrier  dog  does  a  rat.  The  shock 
produced  a  stupor  similar  to  that  which  seems  to  be  felt  by  a 
mouse  after  the  first  shake  of  the  cat.  It  caused  a  sort  of 
dreaminess,  in  which  there  was  no  sense  of  pain  nor  feeling 
of  terror,  though  quite  conscious  of  all  that  was  happening. 
It  was  like  what  patients  partially  under  the  influence  of 
chloroform  describe,  who  see  all  the  operation,  but  feel  not 
the  knife.  This  singular  condition  was  not  the  result  of  any 
mental  process.  The  shake  annihilated  fear,  and  allowed  no 
sense  of  horror  in  looking  round  at  the  beast.  This  peculiar 
state  is  probably  produced  in  all  animals  killed  by  the  car- 
nivora ;  and  if  so,  is  a  merciful  provision  by  our  benevolent 
Creator  for  lessening  the  pain  of  death. 

"  Turning  round  to  relieve  myself  of  the  weight,  as  he  had 
one  paw  on  the  back  of  my  head,  I  saw  his  eye  directed  to 
Mebalwe,  who  was  trying  to  shoot  him  at  a  distance  of  ten 
or  fifteen  yards.  His  gun,  a  flint  one,  missed  fire  in  both 
barrels ;  the  lion  immediately  left  me,  and,  attacking  Mebalwe, 
bit  his  thigh.  Another  man,  whose  life  I  had  saved  before, 
after  he  had  been  tossed  by  a  buffalo,  attempted  to  spear  the 
lion  while  he  was  biting  Mebalwe.  He  left  Mebalwe  and 
caught  this  man  by  the  shoulder,  but  at  that  moment  the 
bullets  he  had  received  took  effect,  and  he  fell  down  dead. 
The  whole  was  the  work  of  a  few  moments,  and  must  have 
been  his  paroxysms  of  dying  rage.  In  order  to  take  out  the 
charm  from  him,  the  Bakatla  on  the  following  day  made  a 
huge  bonfire  over  the  carcass,  which  was  declared  to  be  that 
of  the  largest  lion  they  had  ever  seen." 

Dr.  Livingstone  thus  graphically  describes  the  Bakwaine, 
and  his  mode  of  dealing  with  them :— 


144  LIVINGSTONE  AND  HIS  TRAVELS. 

"  A  small  piece  of  land,  sufficient  for  a  garden,  was  pur- 
chased when  we  first  went  to  live  with  them,  though  that  was 
scarcely  necessary  in  a  country  where  the  idea  of  buying  land 
was  quite  new.  It  was  expected  that  a  request  for  a  suitable 
spot  would  have  been  made,  and  that  we  should  have  pro- 
ceeded to  occupy  it,  as  any  other  member  of  the  tribe  would. 
But  we  explained  to  them  that  we  wished  to  avoid  any  cause 
of  future  dispute,  when  land  had  become  more  valuable  ;  or 
when  a  foolish  chief  began  to  reign,  and  we  had  erected  large 
or  expensive  buildings,  he  might  wish  to  claim  the  whole. 
These  reasons  were  considered  satisfactory.  About  £5  worth 
of  goods  were  given  for  a  piece  of  land,  and  an  arrangement 
was  come  to,  that  a  similar  piece  should  be  allotted  to  any 
other  missionary,  at  any  other  place  to  which  the  tribe  might 
remove.  The  particulars  of  the  sale  sounded  strangely  in  the 
ears  of  the  tribe,  but  were  nevertheless  readily  agreed  to. 

"  In  our  relations  with  this  people,  we  were  simply  stran- 
gers, exercising  no  authority  or  control  whatever.  Our  influ- 
ence depended  entirely  on  persuasion;  and  having  taught 
them,  by  kind  conversation  as  well  as  by  public  instruction, 
I  expected  them  to  do  what  their  own  sense  of  right  and 
wrong  dictated.  We  never  wished  them  to  do  right  merely 
because  it  would  be  pleasing  to  us,  nor  thought  ourselves  to 
blame  when  they  did  wrong,  although  we  were  quite  aware 
of  the  absurd  idea  to  that  effect.  "We  saw  that  our  teaching 
did  good  to  the  general  mind  of  the  people,  by  bringing  new 
and  better  motives  into  play.  Five  instances  are  positively 
known  to  me  in  which,  by  our  influence  on  public  opinion, 
war  was  prevented ;  and  where,  in  individual  cases,  we  failed, 
the  people  did  no  worse  than  they  did  before  we  came  into 
the  country. 

"  In  general  they  were  slow,  like  all  the  African  people 
hereafter  described,  in  coming  to  a  decision  on  religious  sub- 
jects ;  but  in  questions  affecting  their  worldly  affairs,  they 
were  keenly  alive  to  their  own  interests.  They  might  be 
called  stupid  in  matters  which  had  not  come  within  the  sphere 
of  their  observation,  but  in  other  things  they  showed  more 


LIVINGSTONE  HOME  AT  MABOTSA.  145 

intelligence  than  is  to  be  met  with  in  our  own  uneducated 
peasantry.  They  are  remarkably  accurate  in  their  knowledge 
of  cattle,  sheep,  and  goats,  knowing  exactly  the  kind  of  pas- 
turage suited  to  each ;  and  they  select  with  great  judgment 
the  varieties  of  soil  best  suited  to  different  kinds  of  grain. 
They  are  also  familiar  with  the  habits  of  wild  animals,  and  in 
general  are  well  up  in  the  maxims  which  embody  their  ideas 
of  political  wisdom. 

"  The  place  where  we  first  settled  with  the  Bakwains  is 
called  Chonuane,  and  it  happened  to  be  visited,  during  the 
first  year  of  our  residence  there,  by  one  of  those  droughts 
which  occur  from  time  to  time,  in  even  the  most  favored  dis- 
tricts of  Africa. 

"  The  belief  in  the  gift  or  power  of  rain-making,  is  one  of 
the  most  deeply-rooted  articles  of  faith  in  this  country.  The 
chief,,  Sechele,  was  himself  a  noted  rain-doctor,  and  believed 
in  it  implicitly.  He  has  often  assured  me  that  he  found  it 
more  difficult  to  give  up  his  faith  in  that,  than  in  anything 
else  which  Christianity  required  him  to  abjure.  I  pointed 
out  to  him  that  the  only  feasible  way  of  watering  the  gardens, 
was  to  select  some  good,  never-failing  river,  make  a  canal, 
and  irrigate  the  adjacent  lands.  This  suggestion  was  imme- 
diately adopted,  and  soon  the  whole  tribe  was  on  the  move 
to  the  Kolobeng,  a  stream  about  forty  miles  distant. 

"  The  experiment  succeeded  admirably  during  the  first  year.. 
The  Bakwains  made  the  canal  and  dam,  in  exchange  for  my 
labor  in  assisting  to  build  a  square  house  for  their  chief.  They 
also  built  their  own  school,  under  my  superintendence,  ©ur 
house  at  the  River  Kolobeng,  which  gave  a  name  to  the  set- 
tlement, was  the  third  which  I  had  reared  with  my  own 
hands.  A  native  smith  taught  me  to  weld  iron ;  and  having 
improved  by  scraps  of  information  in  that  line  from.  Mr.  Mof- 
fat,  and  also  in  carpentering  and  gardening,  I  was  becoming 
handy  at  almost  any  trade,  besides  doctoring  and  preaching ; 
and  as  my  wife  could  make  candles,  soap,  and  clothes,  we  came 
nearly  up  to  what  may  be  considered  as  indispensable  in  the 
accomplishments  of  a  missionary  family  in  Central  Africa^ 


146  LIVINGSTONE  AND  HIS  TRAVELS 

namely,  the  husband  to  be  a  jack-of-all-trades  without  doors, 
and  the  wife  a  maid-of-all-work  within. 

"  But  in  our  second  year  again  no  rain  fell.  In  the  third 
the  same  extraordinary  drought  followed.  Indeed,  not  ten 
inches  of  water  fell  during  these  two  years,  and  the  Kolobeng 
ran  dry.  The  fourth  year  was  equally  unpropitious,  the  fall 
of  rain  being  insufficient  to  bring  the  grain  to  maturity. 

"Nothing  could  be  more  trying.  We  dug  down  in  the  bed 
of  the  river  deeper  and  deeper  as  the  water  receded,  striving 
to  get  a  little  to  keep  the  fruit-trees  alive  for  better  times, 
but  in  vain.  Needles  lying  out  of  doors  for  months  did  not 
rust ;  and  a  mixture  of  sulphuric  acid  and  water,  used  in  a 
galvanic  battery,  parted  with  all  its  water  to  the  air,  instead 
of  imbibing  more  from  it,  as  it  would  have  done  in  England. 
The  leaves  of  indigenous  trees  were  all  drooping,  soft,  and 
shriveled,  though  not  dead ;  and  those  of  the  mimosas  were 
closed  at  midday,  the  same  as  they  are  at  night. 

"  In  the  midst  of  this  dreary  drought,  it  was  wonderful  to 
see  those  tiny  creatures,  the  ants,  running  about  with  their 
accustomed  vivacity.  I  put  the  bulb  of  a  thermometer  three 
inches  under  the  soil,  in  the  sun,  at  midday,  and  found  the 
mercury  to  stand  at  132°  to  134° ;  and  if  certain  kinds  of 
beetles  were  placed  on  the  surface,  they  ran  about  a  few 
seconds  and  expired.  But  this  broiling  heat  only  augmented 
the  activity  of  the  long-legged  black  ants. 

"  Where  do  these  ants  get  their  moisture  ?  Our  house  was 
built  on  a  hard  ferruginous  conglomerate,  in  order  to  be  out 
of  the  way  of  the  white  ant,  but  they  came  in  despite  the 
precaution ;  and  not  only  were  they,  in  this  sultry  weather, 
able  individually  to  moisten  soil  to  the  consistency  of  mortar 
for  the  formation  of  galleries,  which,  in  their  way  of  working, 
is  done  by  night  (so  that  they  are  screened  from  the  observa- 
tion of  birds  by  day  in  passing  and  repassing  toward  any 
vegetable  matter  they  may  wish  to  devour),  but,  when  their 
inner  chambers  were  laid  open,  these  were  also  surprisingly 
humid.  Yet  there  was  no  dew,  and,  the  house  being  placed 
on  a  rock,  they  could  have  no  subterranean  passage  to  the 


THE  GREAT  DROUGHT— RAIN-MAKERS.  147 

bed  of  the  river,  which  ran  about  three  hundred  yards  below 
the  hill.  Can  it  be  that  they  have  the  power  of  combining 
the  oxygen  and  hydrogen  of  their  vegetable  food  by  vital 
force  so  as  to  form  water  ? 

"  Rain,  however  would  not  fall.  The  Bakwains  believed 
that  I  had  bound  Sechele  with  some  magic  spell,  and  I  received 
deputations,  in  the  evenings,  of  the  old  counselors,  entreating 
me  to  allow  him  to  make  only  a  few  showers : 

"  '  The  corn  will  die  if  you  refuse,  and  we  shall  become 
scattered.  Only  let  him  make  rain  this  once,  and  we  shall 
all,  men,  women,  and  children,  come  to  the  school,  and  sing 
and  pray  as  long  as  you  please.' 

"  It  was  in  vain  to  protest  that  I  wished  Sechele  to  act  just 
according  to  his  own  ideas  of  what  was  right,  as  he  found 
the  law  laid  down  in  the  Bible,  and  it  was  distressing  to 
appear  hard-hearted  to  them.  The  clouds  often  collected 
promisingly  over  us,  and  rolling  thunder  seemed  to  portend 
refreshing  showers,  but  next  morning  the  sun  would  rise  in  a 
clear,  cloudless  sky  ;  indeed,  even  these  lowering  appearances 
were  less  frequent  by  far  than  days  of  sunshine  are  in  London.'* 

The  following  is  Dr.  Livingstone's  account  of  the  mode 
which  the  Bakwains  practiced  in  securing  the  game,  that 
grazed  in  large  numbers  on  the  African  plains. : — 

"  Very  great  numbers  of  the  large  game,  buffaloes,  zebras, 
giraffes,  tsessebes,  kamas  or  hartebeests,  kokongs  or  gnus1, 
pallahs,  rhinoceroses,  etc.,  congregated  at  some  fountains  near 
Kolobeng,  and  the  trap  called  '•'  hopo "  was  constructed,  in 
the  lands  adjacent,  for  their  destruction.  The  hopo  consists 
of  two  hedges  in  the  form  of  the  letter  V,  which  are  very 
high  and  thick  near  the  angle.  Instead  of  the  hedges  being 
joined  there,  they  are  made  to  form  a  lane  of  about  fifty  yards 
in  length,  at  the  extremity  of  which  a  pit  is  formed,  six  or 
eight  feet  deep,  and  about  twelve  or  fifteen  in  breadth  and 
length.  Trunks  of  trees  are  laid  across  the  margins  of  the 
pit,  and  more  especially  over  that  nearest  the  lane,  where  the 
animals  are  expected  to  leap  in,  and  over  that  farthest  from 
the  lane,  where  it  is  supposed  they  will  attempt  to  escape 


148  LIVINGSTONE  AND  HIS  TRAVELS. 

after  they  are  in.  The  trees  form  an  overlapping  border,  and 
render  escape  almost  impossible.  The  whole  is  carefully- 
decked  with  short  green  rushes,  making  the  pit  like  a  con- 
cealed pitfall. 

•  "As  the  hedges  are  frequently  about  a  mile  long,  and  about 
as  much  apart  at  their  extremities,  a  tribe  making  a  circle 
three  or  four  miles  round  the  country  adjacent  to  the  open- 
ing, and  gradually  closing  up,  are  almost  sure  to  inclose  a 
large  body  of  game.  Driving  it  up  with  shouts  to  the  narrow 
part  of  the  hopo,  men  secreted  there  throw  their  javelins  into 
the  affrighted  herds,  and  on  the  animals  rush  to  the  opening 
presented  at  the  converging  hedges,  and  Into  the  pit,  till  that 
is  full  of  a  living  mass.  Some  escape  by  running  over  the 
others,  as  a  Smithfield  market-dog  does  over  the  sheep's  backs. 
It  is  a  frightful  scene.  The  men,  wild  with  excitement,  spear 
the  lovely  animals  with  mad  delight ;  others  of  the  poor  crea- 
tures, borne  down  by  the  weight  of  their  dead  and  dying 
companions,  every  now  and  then  make  the  whole  mass  heave 
in  their  smothering  agonies. 

"  The  Bakwains  often  killed  between  sixty  and  seventy 
head  of  large  game  at  the  different  hopos  in  a  single  week  ; 
and  as  every  one,  both  rich  and  poor,  partook  of  the  prey, 
the  meat  counteracted  the  bad  effects  of  an  exclusively  vege- 
table diet.  When  the  poor,  who  had  no  salt,  were  forced  to 
live  entirely  on  roots,  they  were  often  troubled  with  indiges- 
tion. Such  cases  we  had  frequent  opportunities  of  seeing  at 
other  times,  for,  the  district  being  destitute  of  salt,  the  rich 
alone  could  afford  to  buy  it. 

"  The  native  doctors,  aware  of  the  cause  of  the  malady, 
usually  prescribed  some  of  that  ingredient  with  their  medi- 
cines. The  doctors  themselves  had  none,  so  the  poor  resorted 
to  us  for  aid.  "We  took  the  hint,  and  thenceforth  cured  the 
disease  by  giving  a  teaspoonful  of  salt,  minus  the  other  reme- 
dies. Either  milk  or  meat  had  the  same  effect,  though  not 
so  rapidly  as  salt.  Long  afterward,  when  I  was  myself 
deprived  of  salt  for  four  months,  at  two  distinct  periods,  I 
felt  no  desire  for  that  condiment, 


THE  BOERS.  151 

"  This  continued  as  long  as  I  was  confined  to  an  exclusively 
vegetable  diet,  and  when  I  procured  a  meal  of  flesh,  though 
"boiled  in  perfectly  fresh  rain-water,  it  tasted  as  pleasantly 
saltish  as  if  slightly  impregnated  with  the  condiment.  Milk 
or  meat,  obtained  in  however  small  quantities,  removed  entirely 
the  excessive  longing  and  dreaming  about  roasted  ribs  of  fat 
oxen,  and  bowls  of  cool,  thick  milk  gurgling  forth  from  the 
big-bellied  calabashes ;  and  I  could  then  understand  the  thank- 
fulness to  Mrs.  L.  often  expressed  by  poor  Bakwain  women, 
in  the  interesting  condition,  for  a  very  little  of  either. 

"  In  addition  to  other  adverse  influences,  the  general  uncer- 
tainty, though  not  absolute  want  of  food,  and  the  necessity 
of  frequent  absence,  for  the  purpose  of  either  hunting  game 
or  collecting  roots  and  fruits,  proved  a  serious  barrier  to  the 
progress  of  the  people  in  knowledge.  Ragged  schools  would 
have  been  a  failure,  had  not  the  teachers  wisely  provided  food 
for  the  body  as  well  as  food  for  the  mind ;  and  not  only  must 
we  show  a  friendly  interest  in  the  bodily  comfort  of  the 
objects  of  our  sympathy,  as  a  Christian  duty,  but  we  can  no 
more  hope  for  healthy  feelings  among  the  poor,  either  at 
home  or  abroad,  without  feeding  them  into  them,  than  we 
can  hope  to  see  an  ordinary  working-bee  reared  into  a  queen- 
mother  by  the  ordinary  food  of  the  hive." 

One  of  the  adverse  influences  which  Dr.  Livingstone  had 
to  encounter  in  his  mission  enterprise  was  the  opposition  of 
the  Boers.  These  were  white  settlers — refugees  from  justice, 
deserters  from  English  and  other  armies,  and  of  course  a  very 
degraded  class.  They  must  not  be  confounded  with  the 
Dutch  Boors,  for  the  latter  were  a  sober,  industrious  and  hos- 
pitable body  of  peasantry.  Living  at  a  distance  from  civiliz- 
ation, the  Boors  could  not  be  expected  to  be  very  refined  in 
their  manners,  or  style  of  living,  but  they  were  honest  and 
peaceable. 

"  One  section  of  this  body,  penetrated  the  interior  as  far  as 
the  Cashan  Mountains,  whence  a  Zulu  or  Caffre  chief,  named 
Mosilikatze,  had  been  expelled  by  the  well-known  Caflre 
Dingaan  ;  and  a  glad  welcome  was  given  them  by  the  Bechu- 


152  LIVINGSTONE  AND  HIS  TRAVELS. 

ana  tribes,  who  had  just  escaped  the  hard  sway  of  that  cruel 
chieftain.  They  came  with  the  prestige  of  white  men  and 
deliverers  ;  but  the  Bechuanas  soon  found,  as  they  expressed 
it,  '  that  Mosilikatze  was  cruel  to  his  enemies,  and  kind 
to  those  he  conquered;  but  that  the  Boers  destroyed  their 
enemies,  and  made  slaves  of  their  friends.' " 

To  meet  their  demand  for  domestic  and  field  servants,  they 
were  accustomed  to  make  forages  on  the  Bechuanas,  and  the 
plan  most  approved  by  the  long-headed  among  the  Boers  was, 
to  take  children  so  young  that  they  soon  forgot  their  parents 
and  their  native  language. 

Dr.  Livingstone,  of  course,  opposed  the  barbarous  practices 
of  the  Boers,  and  this  opposition  provoked  their  vengeance. 
During  his  absence  they  descended  upon  the  missionary  sta- 
tion, and  plundered  his  home.  The  nations  under  Sechele 
defended  themselves  to  the  best  of  their  ability,  and  slew  a 
number  of  the  Boers,  but  finally  had  to  flee  before  them,  and 
retire  to  the  mountains.  This  marauding  band  of  Boers 
numbered  four  hundred,  and  carried  off  two  hundred  Bak- 
wain  children  that  were  in  the  mission  school. 

This  plundering  of  the  Boers  broke  up  the  mission  station 
among  the  Bakwains,  and  left  Dr.  Livingstone  free  to  carry 
out  his  long  cherished  wish  of  exploring  the  interior  of  Af  rica. 
Before  leaving  this  interesting  people,  however,  we  must  give 
the  doctor's  account  of  their  housekeeping,  and  his  mode  of 
employing  his  time,  while  laboring  among  them : — 

"  The  entire  absence  of  shops  led  us  to  make  every  thing 
we  needed  from  the  raw  materials.  You  want  bricks  to  build 
a  house,  and  must  forthwith  proceed  to  the  field,  cut  down  a 
tree,  and  saw  it  into  planks  to  make  the  brick-moulds;  the 
materials  for  doors  and  windows,  too,  are  standing  in  the 
forest ;  and,  if  you  want  to  be  respected  by  the  natives,  a 
house  of  decent  dimensions,  costing  an  immense  amount  of 
manual  labor,  must  be  built.  The  people  cannot  assist  you 
much  ;  for,  though  most  willing  to  labor  for  wages,  the  Bak- 
wains have  a  curious  inability  to  make  or  put  things  square  : 
like  all  Bechuanas,  their  dwellings  are  made  round.  In  the 


THE  MISSIONARIES  LIFE  AT  KOLOBENG.  153 

case  of  three  large  houses,  erected  by  myself  at  different  times, 
every  brick  and  stick  had  to  be  put  square  by  my  own  right 
hand. 

"  Having  got  the  meal  ground,  the  wife  proceeds  to  make 
it  into  bread ;  an  extempore  oven  is  often  constructed  by 
scooping  out  a  large  hole  in  an  ant-hill,  and  using  a  slab  of 
stone  for  a  door.  Another  plan,  which  might  be  adopted  by 
the  Australians,  to  produce  something  better  than  their  '  dam- 
pers,' is  to  make  a  good  fire  on  a  level  piece  of  ground,  and, 
•when  the  ground  is  thoroughly  heated,  place  the  dough  in  a 
small,  short-handled  frying-pan,  or  simply  on  the  hot  ashes ; 
invert  any  sort  of  metal  pot  over  it,  draw  the  ashes  around, 
and  then  make  a  small  fire  on  the  top.  Dough,  mixed  with 
a  little  leaven  from  a  former  baking,  and  allowed  to  stand  an 
hour  or  two  in  the  sun,  will  by  this  process  become  excellent 
bread. 

"  We  made  our  own  butter,  a  jar  serving  as  a  churn  ;  and 
our  own  candles  by  means  of  moulds ;  and  soap  was  procured 
from  the  ashes  of  the  plant  salsola,  or  from  wood-ashes,  which 
in  Africa  contain  so  little  alkaline  matter  that  the  boiling  of 
successive  leys  has  to  be  continued  for  a  month  or  six  weeks, 
before  the  fat  is  saponified.  There  is  not  much  hardship  in 
being  almost  entirely  dependent  on  ourselves  ;  there  is  some- 
thing of  the  feeling  which  must  have  animated  Alexander 
Selkirk,  on  seeing  conveniences  springing  up  before  him  from 
his  own  ingenuity  ;  and  married  life  is  all  the  sweeter  when 
so  many  comforts  emanate  directly  from  the  thrifty,  striving 
housewife's  hands. 

"  To  some  it  may  appear  quite  a  romantic  mode  of  life ;  it 
is  one  of  active  benevolence,  such  as  the  good  may  enjoy  at 
home.  Take  a  single  day  as  a  sample  of  the  whole.  We 
rose  early,  because,  however  hot  the  day  may  have  been,  the 
evening,  night,  and  morning  at  Kolobeng  were  deliciously 
refreshing;  cool  is  not  the  word,  where  you  have  neither  an 
increase  of  cold  or  heat  to  desire,  and  where  you  can  sit  out 
till  midnight,  with  no  fear  of  coughs  or  rheumatism.  After 
family  worship  and  breakfast  between  six  and  seven,  we  went 


154:  LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

to  keep  school  for  all  who  would  attend — men,  women,  and 
children  being  all  invited.  School  over  at  eleven  o'clock, 
while  the  missionary's  wife  was  occupied  in  domestic  matters 
the  missionary  himself  had  some  manual  labor  as  a  smith, 
carpenter,  or  gardener,  according  to  whatever  was  needed  for 
ourselves  or  for  the  people ;  if  for  the  latter,  they  worked  for 
us  in  the  garden,  or  at  some  other  employment ;  skilled  labor 
was  thus  exchanged  for  the  unskilled. 

"  After  dinner  and  an  hour's  rest,  the  wife  attended  her 
-  infant-school,  which  the  young,  who  were  left  by  their  parents 
entirely  to  their  own  caprice,  liked  amazingly,  and  generally 
mustered  a  hundred  strong ;  or  she  varied  that  with  a  sewing- 
school,  having  classes  of  girls  to  learn  the  art ;  this,  too,  was 
equally  well  relished.  During  the  day  every  operation  must 
be  superintended,  and  both  husband  and  wife  must  labor  till 
the  sun  declines.  After  sunset  the  husband  went  into  the 
town  to  converse  with  any  one  willing  to  do  so,  sometimes  on 
general  subjects,  at  other  times  on  religion. 

"  On  three  nights  of  the  week,  as  soon  as  the  milking  of 
the  cows  was  over,  and  it  had  become  dark,  we  had  a  public 
religious  service,  and  one  of  instruction  on  secular  subjects, 
aided  by  pictures  and  specimens.  These  services  were  diver- 
sified by  attending  upon  the  sick,  and  prescribing  for  them, 
giving  food,  and  otherwise  assisting  the  poor  and  wretched. 
We  tried  to  gain  their  affections  by  attending  to  the  wants  of 
the  body.  The  smallest  acts  of  friendship,  an  obliging  word 
and  civil  look,  are,  as  St.  Xavier  thought,  no  despicable  part 
of  the  missionary  armor.  Nor  ought  the  good  opinion  of  the 
most  abject  to  be  uncared  for,  when  politeness  may  secure  it. 
Their  good  word  in  the  aggregate  forms  a  reputation  which 
may  be  well  employed  in  procuring  favor  for  the  Gospel. 
Show  kind  attention  to  the  reckless  opponents  of  Christianity 
on  the  bed  of  sickness  and  pain,  and  they  never  can  become 
your  personal  enemies.  Here,  if  any  where,  love  begets  love." 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
DISCOVERY  OF  LAKE  NGAML 

THE  Boers  were  determined  that  no  missionary  stations 
should  be  established  on  their  flanks  or  in  their  rear,  as 
these  would  interfere  with  their  "peculiar  institution."  Living- 
stone was  equally  determined  to  open  all  Africa  to  the  light 
of  the  gospel,  and  thus  put  a  stop  to  the  system  of  unrequited 
labor  and  other  iniquities  incident  to  barbarism.  Obstacles 
only  stimulated  him  to  further  exertions,  and  he  immediately 
set  about  collecting  all  the  information  he  could  about  the 
desert  which  lay  between  the  Bakwain  country  and  Lake 
Ngami. 

Sekomi,  the  chief  of  the  Bamangwato,  was  acquainted  with 
a  route  which  he  kept  carefully  to  himself,  because  the  Lake 
country  abounded  in  ivory  and  he  drew  large  quantities 
thence  periodically  at  a  small  cost  to  himself. 

Although  Sechele  sent  men  with  a  present  of  an  ox  to 
Sekomi  to  ask  permission  that  Livingstone  might  pass  along 
over  his  path,  it  was  refused.  Sechele,  who  was  fully  alive 
to  his  own  interest,  was  naturally  anxious  to  get  a  share  of 
that  inviting  field  and  was  ready  to  accompany  Livingstone 
on  the  expedition,  but  was  dissuaded  from  this  as  he  was 
needed  at  home  to  guard  against  the  attack  of  the  Boers. 

Livingstone  was  finally  fortunate  in  securing  for  compan- 
ions two  English  gentlemen,  Messrs.  Oswell  and  Murray,  who 
were  full  of  zeal  for  African  hunting  and  discovery,  and 
kindly  offered  to  pay  all  expenses  for  guides  across  the  great 
Kalahari  Desert,  which  lies  between  the  Orange  River  and 

155 


156  LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

Lake  Ngami,  and  extends  from  24°  east  longitude  to  near  the 
west  coast. 

This  region  is  called  a  desert  simply  because  it  contains  no 
running  water  and  very  little  water  in  wells ;  it  is  by  no 
means  destitute  of  vegetation  and  inhabitants.  It  was  form- 
erly a  region  of  terror  to  the  Bechuanas  from  the  number  of 
serpents  which  infested  it,  and  from  the  intense  thirst  which 
they  often  experienced  there. 

"  The  human  inhabitants  of  this  tract  of  country  consist  of 
Bushmen  and  Bakalahari.  The  former  are  probably  the 
aborigines  of  the  southern  portion  of  the  continent,  the  latter 
the  remnants  of  the  first  emigration  of  Bechuanas.  The 
Bushmen  live  in  the  desert  from  choice,  the  Bakalahari  from 
compulsion,  and  both  possess  an  intense  love  of  liberty. 

"  The  Bushmen  are  exceptions  in  language,  race,  habits,  and 
appearance.  They  are  the  only  real  nomades  in  the  country  ; 
they  never  cultivate  the  soil,  nor  rear  any  domestic  animals  save 
wretched  dogs.  They  are  so  intimately  acquainted  with  the 
habits  of  the  game  that  they  follow  them  in  their  migrations, 
and  prey  upon  them  from  place  to  place,  and  thus  prove  as 
complete  a  check  upon  their  inordinate  increase  as  the  other 
carnivora.  The  chief  subsistence  of  the  Bushmen  is  the  flesh 
of  game,  but  that  is  eked  out  by  what  the  women  collect  of 
roots  and  beans,  and  fruits  of  the  desert.  They  possess  gen- 
erally thin,  wiry  forms,  capable  of  great  exertions  and  of 
severe  privations." 

Messrs.  Oswell  and  Murray  arrived  at  Kolobeng,  the  latter 
part  of  May.  Just  before  their  arrival,  a  party  from  the 
Lake  country  came  to  Livingstone,  stating  that  they  were 
sent  by  Lechulatebe,  their  chief,  to  ask  him  to  visit  the  lake. 
This  party  brought  such  flaming  accounts  of  the  quantities 
of  ivory  to  be  found  there,  that  the  Bakwain  guides  were 
quite  as  eager  to  reach  the  lake  as  were  the  explorers. 

All  things  being  ready,  Livingstone  started  northward  on 
the  1st  of  June,  1849,  accompanied  by  Messrs.  Oswell  and 
Murray,  a  score  of  Bakwains,  twenty  horses  and  eighty  oxen. 
Proceeding  four  or  five  days  towards  the  Bamangwato  hills, 


ACROSS  THE  KALAHARI  DESERT.  157 

they  struck  boldly  to  the  north  into  the  desert.  The  soil  was 
a  soft  white  sand,  very  trying  to  the  strength  of  the  oxen,  as 
the  wheels  sank  into  it  over  the  felloes.  At  Serotli  they  had 
their  first  experience  of  a  real  Kalahari  fountain : — 

"  "We  found  only  a  few  hollows  like  those  made  by  the 
buffalo  and  rhinoceros  when  they  roll  themselves  in  the  mud. 
In  a  corner  of  one  of  these  there  appeared  water,  which 
would  have  been  quickly  lapped  up  by  our  dogs,  had  we  not 
driven  them  away.  And  yet  this  was  all  the  apparent  sup- 
ply for  some  eighty  oxen,  twenty  horses  and  about  a  score 
of  men.  Our  guide,  Ramotobi,  who  had  spent  his  youth  in 
the  desert,  declared  that,  though  appearances  were  against  us, 
there  was  plenty  of  water  at  hand.  We  had  our  misgivings, 
for  the  spades  were  soon  produced  ;  but  our  guides,  despising 
such  new-fangled  aid,  began  in  good  earnest  to  scrape  out  the 
sand  with  their  hands.  The  only  water  we  had  any  promise 
of  for  the  next  seventy  miles — that  is,  for  a  journey  of  three 
days  with  the  wagons — was  to  be  got  here. 

"  By  the  aid  of  both  spades  and  fingers  two  of  the  holes 
were  cleared  out,  so  as  to  form  pits  six  feet  deep  and  about 
as  many  broad.  Our  guides  were  especially  earnest  in  their 
injunctions  to  us  not  to  break  through  the  hard  stratum  of 
sand  at  the  bottom,  because  they  knew,  if  it  were  broken 
through,  "  the  water  would  go  away."  They  are  quite  cor- 
rect, for  the  water  seems  to  lie  on  this  flooring  of  incipient 
sandstone.  The  value  of  the  advice  was  proved  in  the  case 
of  an  Englishman  whose  wits  were  none  of  the  brightest, 
who,  disregarding  it,  dug  through  the  sandy  stratum  in  the 
wells  at  Mohotluani;  the  water  immediately  flowed  away 
downward,  and  the  well  became  useless.  "When  we  came  to 
the  stratum,  we  found  that  the  water  flowed  in  on  all  sides 
close  to  the  line  where  the  soft  sand  came  in  contact  with  it. 
Allowing  it  to  collect,  we  had  enough  for  the  horses  that 
evening ;  but  as  there  was  not  sufficient  for  the  oxen,  we  sent 
them  back  to  Lobotani,  where,  after  thirsting  four  full  days 
(ninety-six  hours),  they  got  a  good  supply.  The  horses  were 
8 


158  LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

kept  by  us  as  necessary  to  procure  game  for  the  sustenance 
of  our  numerous  party. 

"  Next  morning  we  found  the  water  had  flowed  in  faster 
than  at  first,  as  it  invariably  does  in  these  reservoirs,  owing 
to  the  passages  widening  by  the  flow.  Large  quantities  of 
the  sand  come  into  the  well  with  the  water,  and  in  the  course 
of  a  few  days  the  supply,  which  may  be  equal  to  the  wants 
of  a  few  men  only,  becomes  sufficient  for  oxen  as  well.  In 
these  sucking-places  the  Bakalahari  get  their  supplies;  and 
as  they  are  generally  in  the  hollows  of  ancient  river-beds, 
they  are  probably  the  deposits  from  rains  gravitating  thither ; 
in  some  cases  they  may  be  the  actual  fountains,  which, 
though  formerly  supplying  the  river's  flow,  now  no  longer 
rise  to  the  surface. " 

On  the  evening  of  the  second  day  at  Serotli,  a  hyena 
appearing  suddenly,raised  a  panic  among  the  cattle.  This 
cowardly  animal  always  endeavors  to  produce  a  stampede 
among  animals  and  then  attacks  them  in  the  rear.  His  cour- 
age resembles  that  of  a  turkey-cock.  He  will  bite  if  an  ani- 
mal is  running  away,  but  if  the  animal  stands  still,  the  hyena 
does  also.  Seventeen  of  the  oxen  ran  off  and  came  into  the 
possession  of  Sekomi,  who  honestly  sent  them  back  with  a 
message  strongly  dissuading  them  against  crossing  the  desert. 

They  however,  persevered,  traveling  mornings  and  eve- 
nings ;  in  the  middle  of  the  day  the  hot  sun  and  heavy  sand 
would  have  overpowered  the  oxen.  Miles  beyond  Serotli 
one  clump  of  trees  and  bushes  seemed  exactly  like  another  ; 
but  the  guide,  Ramotobi,  had  an  admirable  knowledge  of  his 
course,  though  to  the  explorers  it  seemed  a  trackless  waste. 
One  morning  as  he  was  walking  by  Livingstone's  side  he 
remarked : — 

"  When  we  come  to  that  hollow  we  shall  light  upon  the 
highway  of  Sekomi ;  and  beyond  that  again  lies  the  river 
Mokoko. " 

Fact  verified  his  statement  for  soon  the  men  who  were  in 
advance  cried  out  "  metse,  metse,"  water,  water.  The  oxen 
dashed  into  the  river  till  the  water  was  nearly  level  with 


A  BUSHWOMAN-DECEIYED  BY  MIRAGE.  159 

their  throats,  and  then  drew  in  the  refreshing  mouthfuls  till 
their  collapsed  sides  distended  almost  to  bursting. 

After  leaving  Mokoko,  Kamotobi  seems  for  the  first  time 
to  be  at  a  loss  which  direction  to  take.  He  had  only  once 
passed  to  the  west  of  this  side  on  the  banks  of  which  he  had 
spent  his  childhood  but,  f ortunr.tely,  Mr.  Oswell,  while  riding 
in  front  of  the  wagon,  spied  a  Bushwoman  running  away  in 
a  bent  position  in  order  to  escape  observation.  Taking  her 
for  a  lion  he  galloped  up  to  her,  and  she,  thinking  herself 
captured,  began  to  deliver  up  her  poor  little  property  consist- 
ing of  a  few  traps  m::de  of  cords. 

"When  made  to  understand  that  the  party  wanted  water, 
and  would  pay  her  for  guiding  them,  she  consented  to  con- 
duct them  to  it,  and,  though  late  in  the  afternoon,  walked 
eight  miles  to  the  spring  called  ^Nchokotsa.  A  piece  of  meat 
and  a  bunch  of  beads  were  sufficient  to  allay  all  her  suspicion 
and  to  make  her  laugh  with  joy. 

At  Nchokotsa  the  party  first  came  upon  the  salinas,  or  salt 
plain,  covered  with  an  efflorescence  of  lime.  This  salina  was 
twenty  miles  in  circumference,  and  at  the  time  it  first  burst 
upon  the  view  of  the  explorers,  the  setting  sun  was  casting 
a  beautiful  blue  haze  over  the  white  incrustation,  making  tho 
whole  look  exactly  like  a  lake.  Oswell  threw  up  his  hat  in 
the  air  at  the  sight,  and  shouted  out  a  huzza  which  made  the 
poor  Bushwoman  and  the  Bakwains  think  him  mad. 

Livingstone  was  a  little  behind,  and  was  as  much  deceived 
as  was  Oswell,  and  not  a  little  chagrined  to  think  that  his 
companion  had  the  first  sight  of  Lake  Ngami.  They  had  no 
idea  that  the  long  looked  for  lake  was  three  hundred  miles 
distant.  They  were  simply  deluded  by  a  mirage. 

"  The  mirage  on  these  salinas  was  marvelous.  It  is  never, 
I  believe,  seen  in  perfection,  except  over  such  saline  incrusta- 
tions. Here  not  a  particle  of  imagination  was  necessary  for 
realizing  the  picture  of  large  collections  of  water ;  the  waves 
danced  along  above,  and  the  shadows  of  the  trees  were  vivid- 
ly reflected  beneath  the  surface  in  such  an  admirable  manner, 
that  the  loose  cattle,  whose  thirst  had  not  been  slaked  suffi- 


160  LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

ciently  by  the  very  brackish  water  of  Nchokotsa,  with  the 
horses,  dogs,  and  even  the  Hottentots,  ran  off  toward  the 
deceitful  pools.  A  herd  of  zebras  in  the  mirage  looked  so 
exactly  like  elephants  that  Oswell  began  to  saddle  a  horse  in 
order  to  hunt  them ;  but  a  sort  of  break  in  the  haze  dispelled 
the  illusion.  Looking  to  the  west  and  north wesjL  from  Kcho- 
kotsa,  we  could  see  columns  of  black  smoke,  exactly  like  those 
from  a  steam-engine,  rising  to  the  clouds,  and  were  assured 
that  these  arose  from  the  burning  reeds  of  the  Noka  ea  Bat- 
letli,  ("  Kiver  of  the  Batletli ") 

Again  and  again  were  the  party  deceived  by  similar  delu- 
sions. On  the  fourth  of  July  a  company  of  horsemen  felt 
confident  that  they  saw  the  lake  and  started  forward  to  reach 
it,  but  came  instead  upon  the  water  of  the  Zouga  river,  which 
the  natives  said  flowed  from  ISTgami.  This  gladdened  their 
hearts  and  they  felt  sure  of  reaching  their  goal.  The  people 
were  friendly,  and  told  them  that  by  following  the  Zouga 
they  would  at  last  reach  the  head  waters,  though  they  might 
be  "  a  moon  "  on  their  journey. 

The  Bechuana  chief  of  the  Lake  country  who  had  sent  an 
embassy  to  Sechele,  inviting  Livingstone  to  visit  the  lake 
had  also  sent  orders  to  all  the  people  on  the  river  to  assist  him, 
so  that  the  remaining  part  of  the  route  along  the  beautifully 
wooded  stream  was  one  of  unalloyed  pleasure. 

So  peaceable  were  the  Bakobas  who  reside  on  the  Zouga, 
that  Livingstone  calls  them  the  Quakers  of  Africa.  They 
had  never  been  known  to  fight  and  had  a  tradition  that  their 
forefathers  in  their  first  essays  at  war,  made  their  bows  of  the 
Palma  Christi,  and  when  these  broke,  they  gave  up  fighting 
altogether. 

While  ascending  the  Zouga  Livingstone  discovered  a  large 
tributary  to  it,  called  the  Tamunakle,  and  inquiring  of  the 
Bakobas  whence  it  came  they  replied : — 
.     "  Oh !  from  a  country  full  of  rivers,  and  full  of  large  trees." 

This  information  compared  with  the  statements  of  the  Bak- 
wains.,  that  the  country  on  the  north  was  not  the  large  sandy 
plateau  generally  supposed.  The  idea  of  a  highway  capable 


DISCOVERY  OF  LAKE  XGAMI.  161 

of  being  traversed  by  boats,  to  an  unexplored,  rich,  and  popu- 
lous country,  so  filled  Livingstone's  mind,  that  the  actual  dis- 
covery of  the  lake  seemed  of  but  little  importance. 

On  the  first  of  August  1849,  Lake  Ngami  was  first  viewed 
by  European  eyes.  It  is  a  shallow  sheet  of  water,  some  sev- 
enty or  eighty  miles  in  circumference,  with  boggy,  weedy 
banks.  The  whole  region  was  a  basin,  and  Livingstone  des- 
cended over  two  thousand  feet  in  approaching  it  from  Kolobeng. 

"  My  chief  object  in  coming  to  the  lake  was  to  visit  Sebit- 
uane,  the  great  chief  of  the  Makololo,  who  was  reported  to 
live  some  two  hundred  miles  beyond.  On  the  day  after  our 
arrival  at  the  lake,  I  applied  to  Lechulatebe  for  guides  to 
Sebituane.  As  he  was  much  afraid  of  that  chief,  he  objected, 
fearing  lest  other  white  men  should  go  thither  also,  and  give 
Sebituane  guns :  whereas,  if  the  traders  came  to  him  alone, 
the  possession  of  fire-arms  would  give  him  such  a  superiority 
that  Sebituane  would  be  afraid  of  him.  It  was  in  vain  to 
explain  that  I  would  inculcate  peace  between  them — that 
Sebituane  had  been  a  father  to  him  and  Sechele,  and  was  as 
anxious  to  see  me  as  he,  Lechulatebe,  had  been.  lie  offered 
to  give  me  as  much  ivory  as  I  needed,  without  going  to  that 
chief;  but  when  I  refused  to  take  any,  he  unwillingly  con- 
sented to  give  me  guides. 

"  Next  day,  however,  when  Oswell  and  I  were  prepared  to 
start,  with  the  horses  only,  we  received  a  senseless  refusal ; 
and  like  Sekomi,  who  had  thrown  obstacles  in  our  way,  he 
sent  men  to  the  Bayeiye  with  orders  to  refuse  us  a  passage 
across  the  river.  Trying  hard  to  form  a  raft  at  a  narrow 
part,  I  worked  many  hours  in  the  water ;  but  the  dry  wood 
was  so  worm-eaten  it  would  not  bear  the  weight  of  a  single 
person.  I  was  not  then  aware  of  the  number  of  alligators 
which  exist  in  the  Zouga,  and  never  think  of  my  labor  in  the 
water  without  feeling  thankful  that  I  escaped  their  jaws. 

"  The  season  was  now  far  advanced  ;  and  as  Mr.  Oswell, 
with  his  wonted  generous  feelings,  volunteered  on  the  spot, 
to  go  down  to  the  Cape  and  bring  up  a  boat,  we  resolved  to 
make  our  way  south  again." 


1C2  LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

In  April,  1850,  Livingstone  set  out  on  another  expedition 
north,  this  time  accompanied  by  his  wife,  three  children,  and 
the  chief,  Sechele.  They  reached  Lake  Ngami  without  serious 
difficulty,  and  Sechele  used  all  his  power  of  eloquence  with 
Lcchulatcbe  to  induce  him  to  furnish  guides  for  Dr.  Living- 
stone to  visit  Sebituane.  The  wily  chief  made  the  same 
objection  as  before,  fearing  lest  Sebituane  would  in  some 
way  get  a  supply  of  guns,  and  thus  become  a  more  formidable 
foe ;  but  at  last  he  yielded. 

Livingstone  had  a  very  superior  London-made  gun,  with 
which  Lechulatebe  fell  in  love,  and  he  offered  for  it  whatever 
number  of  elephant's  tusks  the  explorer  might  ask,  though 
he  had  no  ivory  on  hand.  The  bargain  was  made.  Mrs.  Liv- 
ingstone was  to  remain  at  the  lake  with  her  children,  and  be 
furnished  with  provisions  in  her  husband's  absence. 

But  "  the  best  laid  plans  oft  gang  awry."  The  children 
were  taken  sick  with  a  fever  on  the  day  Dr.  Livingstone  was 
to  take  his  departure,  and  on  the  next  day  all  the  servants 
were  prostrate  with  the  same  complaint ;  and  a  return  to  the 
pure  air  of  the  desert  became  necessary. 

Foiled  in  this  second  attempt  to  reach  Sebituane,  Living- 
stone again  returned  to  Kolobeng,  whither  he  was  soon  fol- 
lowed by  messengers  from  that  chief.  "When  he  heard  of 
Livingstone's  attempts  to  visit  him,  he  dispatched  three 
detachments  of  his  men  with  thirteen  brown  cows  to  Lechu- 
latebe, thirteen  white  cows  to  Sekomi,  and  thirteen  black  cows 
to  Sechele,  with  a  request  to  each  to  assist  the  white  men  to 
reach  him.  Their  policy,  however,  was  to  keep  him  out  of 
view,  and  act  as  his  agents,  in  purchasing  with  his  ivory  the 
goods  he  wanted. 

A  third  attempt  was  more  successful,  and  in  company  with 
his  wife  and  children,  and  Mr.  Oswell,  Dr.  Livingstone  finally 
succeeded  in  interviewing  Sebituane  in  his  own  home  on  the 
banks  of  the  river  Chobe. 

"  Sebituane  was  about  forty -five  years  of  age  ;  of  a  tall  and 
wiry  form,  an  olive  or  coffee-and-milk  color,  and  slightly  bald ; 
in  manner  cool  and  collected,  and  more  frank  in  his  answers 


VISIT  TO  SEBITUANE— HIS  DEATH.  163 

than  any  other  chief  I  ever  met.  He  was  the  greatest  war- 
rior ever  heard  of  beyond  the  colony ;  for,  unlike  Mosilikatse, 
Dingaau,  and  others,  he  always  led  his  men  into  battle  him- 
self. When  he  saw  the  enemy,  he  felt  the  edge  of  his  battle- 
axe,  and  said,  '  Aha !  it  is  sharp,  and  whoever  turns  his  back 
on  the  enemy  will  feel  its  edge.'  So  fleet  of  foot  was  he,  that 
all  his  people  knew  there  was  no  escape  for  the  coward,  as 
any  such  would  be  cut  down  without  mercy.  In  some  in- 
stances of  skulking,  he  allowed  the  individual  to  return  home ; 
then  calling  him,  he  would  say,  'Ah  !  you  prefer  dying  at 
home  to  dying  in  the  field,  do  you?  You  shall  have  your 
desire.'  This  was  the  signal  for  his  immediate  execution. 

"  He  was  much  pleased  with  the  proof  of  confidence  we 
had  shown  in  bringing  our  children,  and  promised  to  take  us 
to  see  his  country,  so  that  we  might  choose  a  part  in  which 
to  locate  ourselves.  Our  plan  was,  that  I  should  remain  in 
the  pursuit  of  my  objects  as  a  missionary,  while  Mr.  Oswell 
explored  the  Zambesi  to  the  east.  Poor  Sebituane,  however, 
just  after  realizing  what  he  had  so  long  ardently  desired,  fell 
sick  of  inflammation  of  the  lungs,  which  originated  in,  and 
extended  from  an  old  wound  got  at  Melita.  I  saw  his  dan- 
ger, but,  being  a  stranger,  I  feared  to  treat  him  medically, 
lest,  in  the  event  of  his  death,  I  should  be  blamed  by  his  peo- 
ple. I  mentioned  this  to  one  of  his  doctors,  who  said, 

"  *  Your  fear  is  prudent  and  wise ;  this  people  would  blame 
you.' 

"  He  had  been  cured  of  this  complaint,  during  the  year 
before,  by  the  Barotse  making  a  large  number  of  free  incisons 
in  the  chest.  The  Makololo  doctors,  on  the  other  hand,  now 
scarcely  cut  the  skin. 

"  On  the  Sunday  afternoon  in  which  he  died,  when  our 
usual  religious  service  was  over,  I  visited  him  with  my  little 
boy,  Robert. 

"  *  Come  near,'  said  Sebituane,  { and  see  if  I  am  any  longer 
a  man.  I  am  done.' 

"  He  was  thus  sensible  of  the  dangerous  nature  of  his  disease, 


164  LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

BO  I  ventured  to  assent,  and  added  a  single  sentence  regarding 
hope  after  death. 

"  *  Why  do  you  speak  of  death  ?'  said  one  of  a  relay  of  fresh 
doctors ;  '  Sebituane  will  never  die.' 

"  If  I  had  persisted,  the  impression  would  have  been  pro- 
duced that  by  speaking  about  it  I  wished  him  to  die.  After 
sitting  with  him  some  time,  and  commending  him  to  the 
mercy  of  God,  I  rose  to  depart,  when  the  dying  chieftain, 
raising  himself  up  a  little  from  his  prone  position,  called  a 
servant,  and  said, 

"  <  Take  Robert  to  Maunku  (one  of  his  wives),  and  tell  her 
to  give  him  some  milk.' 

"  These  were  the  last  words  of  Sebituane. 

"  "We  were  not  informed  of  his  death  until  the  next  day. 
The  burial  of  a  Bechuana  chief  takes  place  in  his  cattle-pen, 
and  all  the  cattle  are  driven  for  an  hour  or  two  around  and 
over  the  grave,  so  that  it  may  be  quite  obliterated.  We  went 
and  spoke  to  the  people,  advising  them  to  keep  together,  and 
support  the  heir.  They  took  this  kindly ;  and  in  turn  told 
us  not  to  be  alarmed,  for  they  would  not  think  of  ascribing 
the  death  of  their  chief  to  us  ;  that  Sebituane  had  just  gone 
the  way  of  his  fathers ;  and  though  the  father  had  gone,  he 
had  left  children,  and  they  hoped  that  we  would  be  as  friendly 
to  his  children  as  we  intended  to  have  been  to  him. 

"  He  was  decidedly  the  best  specimen  of  a  native  chief  I  ever 
saw.  I  never  felt  so  much  grieved  by  the  loss  of  a  black  man 
before,  and  it  was  impossible  not  to  follow  him  in  thought 
into  the  world  of  which  he  had  just  heard  before  he  was 
called  away,  and  to  realize  somewhat  the  feelings  of  those 
who  pray  for  the  dead.  The  deep,  dark  question  of  what  is 
to  become  of  such  as  he,  must,  however,  be  left  \vhere  we  find 
it,  believing  most  assuredly  the  Judge  of  all  the  earth  will  do 
right. 

"  At  Sebituane's  death,  the  chieftainship  devolved,  as  her 
father  intended,  on  a  daughter  named  Mamochisane.  He  had 
promised  to  show  us  his  country,  and  to  select  a  suitable  local- 
ity for  our  settlement.  We  had  now  to  look  to  the  daughter, 


DISCOVERY  OF  THE  ZAMBESI.  165 

who  was  living  twelve  days  to  the  north,  at  Naliele.  "We 
were  obliged,  therefore,  to  remain  till  a  message  came  from 
her,  and  when  it  did,  she  gave  us  perfect  liberty  to  visit  any 
part  of  the  country  we  chose. 

"  Mr.  Oswell  and  I-  then  proceeded  one  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  to  the  northeast,  to  Sesheke,  and  in  the  end  of  June, 
1851,  we  were  rewarded  by  the  discovery  of  the  Zambesi  in 
the  centre  of  the  continent.  This  was  a  most  important  point, 
for  that  river  was  not  previously  known  to  exist  there  at  all. 

"  "We  saw  it  at  the  end  of  the  dry  season,  at  the  time  when 
the  river  is  about  at  its  lowest,  and  yet  there  was  a  breadth 
of  from  three  hundred  to  six  hundred  yards  of  deep  flowing 
water.  Mr.  Oswell  said  he  had  never  seen  such  a  fine  river, 
even  in  India.  At  the  period  of  its  annual  inundation,  it  rises 
fully  twenty  feet  in  perpendicular  height,  and  floods  fifteen, 
or  twenty  miles  of  lands  adjacent  to  its  banks." 

Livingstone's  love  of  adventure  and  exploration  was  now 
thoroughly  roused,  and  as  the  inquiry  is  often  asked  why  he 
let  his  family  return  to  England  and  remained  himself  a 
"grass  widower"  in  Africa,  we  will  let  him  tell  his  own  story  : — 

"  As  there  was  no  hope  of  the  Boers  allowing  the  peace- 
able instruction  of  the  natives  at  Kolobeng,  I  at  once  resolved 
to  save  my  family  from  exposure  to  this  unhealthy  region  by 
sending  them  to  England,  and  to  return  alone,  with  a  view 
to  exploring  the  country  in  search  of  a  healthy  district  that 
might  prove  the  centre  of  civilization,  and  open  up  the 
interior  by  a  path  to  either  the  east  or  west  coast.  This  res- 
olution led  me  to  the  Cape  in  April,  1852,  the  first  time  dur- 
ing eleven  vjears  that  I  had  visited  the  scenes  of  civilization. 

"  Our  route  to  Cape  Town  led  us  to  pass  through  the 
centre  of  the  colony  during  the  twentieth  month  of  a  Caffre 
war ;  and  our  little  unprotected  party  traveled  quietly  through 
the  heart  of  the  colony  to  the  capital,  with  as  little  sense  or 
sign  of  danger  as  if  we  had  been  in  England. 

"  Having  placed  my  family  on  board  a  homeward-bound 
ship,  and  promised  to  rejoin  them  in  two  years,  we  parted, 
for,  as  it  subsequently  proved,  nearly  five  years." 


CHAPTER  IX 
JOURNEY  FROM  CAPE  TOWN  TO  LINYANTI. 

HAVING  sent  his  family  to  England,  Livingstone  started 
on  his  last  journey  from  Cape  Town  in  June  1852.  This 
journey  extended  from  the  southern  extremity  of  the  Continent 
to  St.  Paul  de  Loanda,  the  capital  of  Angola,  on  the  west 
coast,  and  thence  across  South  Central  Africa  in  an  oblique 
direction  to  Kilimane  on  the  eastern  coast.  He  traveled  in 
the  common  conveyance  of  the  country,  a  heavy  lumbering 
Cape  wagon  drawn  by  ten  oxen,  and  was  accompanied  by 
two  Christian  Bechuanas,  two  Bakwains,  and  two  young 
girls  who  had  gone  down  to  the  Cape  as  nurses  to  Mrs.  Liv- 
ingstone, and  were  returning  to  their  home  at  Kolobeng. 

At  Kuruman,  the  residence  of  his  father-in-law,  Dr.  Moffat, 
he  was  detained  a  fortnight  by  the  breaking  of  a  wagon 
wheel.  Here  he  found  five  children  of  his  friend  Sechele, 
who  had  been  sent  to  Dr.  Moffat  for  education  when  he  found 
that  Livingstone  was  determined  to  abandon  his  residence 
among  the  Bakwains.  With  the  true  missionary  spirit,  Mr. 
Moffat  had  received  them  into  his  family,  where  they  were 
enjoying  the  benefits  of  civilized  life,  and  were  taught  to 
read  the  Bible  in  their  native  language. 

The  fact  of  the  complete  translation  of  the  Bible  into  the 
Bechuana  tongue  by  Dr.  Moifat,  at  a  missionary  station  seven 
hundred  miles  from  the  Cape,  suggested  to  Livingstone  the 
inquiry  whether  Christianity,  planted  by  modern  missions,  is 
likely  to  retain  its  vitality  without  constant  supplies  of  for- 

166 


MEETING  WITH  SECHELE.  167 

eign  teaching.  If  the  Bechuana  Bible  was  to  meet  the  fate 
of  Elliot's  Indian  translation,  it  would  not  be  a  cause  for 
great  congratulation ;  but  Livingstone's  opinion  was  that  the 
Bechuana  possess  that  imperishability  which  forms  so  remark- 
able a  feature  in*  the  entire  African  race.  This  opinion 
throws  some  light  on  the  future  destiny  of  the  freedmen  in 
our  country,  and  is  an  encouragement  to  effort  in  behalf  of 
Africans  both  at  home  and  abroad. 

Livingstone  found  some  difficulty  in  procuring  servants  for 
further  explorations  at  the  North,  as  the  ravages  of  the  Boers 
had  impressed  the  Bechuanas  with  terror;  but  he  finally 
succeeded  in  securing  three,  and  was  also  favored  with  the 
company  of  George  Fleming,  a  man  of  color,  who  was 
endeavoring  to  establish  a  trade  with  the  Makololo,  and  who 
also  had  three  attendants. 

This  party  left  Kuruman,  November  20th,  1852,  and  at 
Motito,  distant  forty  miles,  met  Sechele  on  his  way  to  lay 
his  grievances  before  the  Queen  of  England.  Sechele  was 
fully  imbued  with  the  common  notion  of  the  country,  that 
England  was  powerful,  just,  and  generous ;  and  he  employed 
all  his  eloquence  to  induce  Livingstone  to  accompany  him  to 
her  majesty,  but  without  avail. 

Livingstone  was  equally  unable  to  persuade  Sechele  to 
desist  from  his  enterprise ;  he  proceeded  as  far  as  the  Cape, 
and  there,  finding  his  resources  exhausted,  retraced  his  fruit- 
less journey  of  a  thousand  miles. 

Livingstone's  party  continued  northward,  skirting  along  the 
Kalahari  desert,  and  giving  the  Boers  a  wide  berth.  On  the 
31st  of  December  he  reached  Litubaruba,  in  Sechele's  domin- 
ions, and  found  the  Bakwains  looking  disconsolate.  Most  of 
their  cattle  and  many  of  their  children  had  been  carried  off 
by  the  Boers.  The  Bakwains  are  much  attached  to  their 
children.  A  little  child  toddling  near  a  party  of  men,  while 
they  are  eating,  is  sure  to  get  a  handful  of  the  food. 

"  This  love  of  children  may  arise,  in  a  great  measure,  from 
the  patriarchal  system  under  which  they  dwell.  Every  little 
stranger  forms  an  increase  of  property  to  the  whole  commu- 


168  LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

nity,  and  is  duly  reported  to  the  chief — boys  being  more 
welcome  than  girls.  The  parents  take  the  name  of  the  child, 
and  often  address  their  children  as  Ma  (mother),  or  Ra 
(father).  Our  eldest  boy  being  named  Robert,  Mrs.  Living- 
stone was,  after  his  birth,  always  addressed  as  Ma-Robert, 
instead  of  Mary,  her  Christian  name." 

On  the  15th  of  January  1853,  Livingstone  left  the  country 
of  the  Bakwains,  deeply  impressed  with  their  miseries  He 
succeeded  in  avoiding  the  Boers,  and  had  little  dread  of  the 
lions  and  other  carnivorous  beasts  which  abound  in  this  region. 

"  When  a  lion  is  met  in  the  daytime,  a  circumstance  by  no 
means  unfrequent  to  travelers  in  these  parts,  if  preconceived 
notions  do  not'lead  them  to  expect  something  very  "noble" 
or  "majestic,"  they  will  see  merely  an  animal  somewhat 
larger  than  the  biggest  dog  they  ever  saw,  and  partaking  very 
strongly  of  the  canine  features ;  the  face  is  not  much  like  the 
usual  drawings  of  a  lion,  the  nose  being  prolonged  like  a 
dog's ;  not  exactly  such  as  our  painters  make  it — though  they 
might  learn  better  at  the  Zoological  Gardens — their  ideas  of 
majesty  being  usually  shown  by  making  their  lions'  faces 
like  old  women  in  nightcaps.  When  encountered  in  the  day- 
time, the  lion  stands  a  second  or  two,  gazing,  then  turns 
slowly  round,  and  walks  as  slowly  away  for  a  dozen  paces, 
looking  over  his  shoulder ;  then  begins  to  trot,  and,  when  he 
thinks  himself  out  of  sight,  bounds  off  like  a  greyhound. 
By  day  there  is  not,  as  a  rule,  the  smallest  danger  of  lions, 
which  are  not  molested,  attacking  man,  nor  even  on  a  clear 
moonlight  night. 

"  On  the  plain,  south  of  Sebituane's  ford,  a  herd  of  buffa- 
loes kept  a  number  of  lions  from  their  young  by  the  males 
turning  their  heads  to  the  enemy.  The  young  and  the  cows 
were  in  the  rear.  One  toss  from  a  bull  would  kill  the  strong- 
est lion  that  ever  breathed.  I  have  been  informed  that  in 
one  part  of  India  even  the  tame  buffaloes  feel  their  superior- 
ity to  some  wild  animals,  for  they  have  been  seen  to  chase  a 
tiger  up  the  hills,  bellowing  as  if  they  enjoyed  the  sport. 
Lions  never  go  near  any  elephants  except  the  calves,  which, 


OSTKICH 


HUNTING  OSTRICHES.  171 

when  young,  are  sometimes  torn  by  them ;  every  living 
thing  retires  before  the  lordly  elephant,  yet  a  full-grown 
one  would  be  an  easier  prey  than  the  rhinoceros;  the  lion 
rushes  off  at  the  mere  sight  of  this  latter  beast." 

Many  of  the  plains  over  which  the  party  passed  had  large 
expanses  of  grass  without  trees,  but  a  treeless  horizon  was 
seldom  found.  The  ostrich  was  often  seen  feeding  on  some 
spot  where  no  one  could  approach  him  without  detection. 
As  the  wagon  moved  along  far  to  the  windward,  he  would 
rush  off  a  mile  or  so.  When  he  began  to  run,  all  the  game 
in  sight  followed  his  example.  It  was  very  difficult  to  get  a 
shot  at  one.  It  requires  the  utmost  address  of  the  Bush- 
men, crawling  for  miles  on  their  stomachs,  to  stalk  him  suc- 
cessfully; yet  the  quantity  of  feathers  collected  annually, 
shows  that  many  are  slain,  as  each  bird  has  only  a  few  in  the 
wings  and  tail. 

An  ingenious  plan  for  beguiling  the  ostrich  to  its  destruc- 
tion, is  practiced  by  the  Bushmen.  The  hunter  whitens  his 
legs,  places  a  feathered  saddle  on  his  shoulders,  takes  a  stuffed 
head  and  neck  of  an  ostrich  in  his  right  hand,  and  his  bows 
and  poisoned  arrows  in  his  left.  At  a  distance  it  is  impossible 
v  for  the  eye  to  detect  the  fraud. 

"  This  human  bird  appears  to  pick  away  at  the  verdure, 
turning  the  head  as  if  keeping  a  sharp  look-out,  shakes  his 
feathers,  now  walks,  and  then  trots  till  he  gets  within  bow- 
shot ;  and  when  the  flock  runs  from  one  receiving  an  arrow, 
he  runs  too.  The  male  ostriches  will,  on  some  occasions,  give 
chase  to  the  strange  bird,  when  he  tries  to  elude  them  in  a 
way  to  prevent  them  catching  his  scent ;  for  when  once  they 
do,  the  spell  is  broken.  Should  one  happen  to  get  too  near 
in  pursuit,  he  has  only  to  ran  to  windward,  or  throw  off  his 
saddle,  to  avoid  a  stroke  from  a  wing  which  would  lay  him 
prostrate." 

"  When  we  reached  the  Bamangwato,  the  chief,  Sekomi, 
was  particularly  friendly,  collected  all  his  people  to  the  relig- 
ious services  we  held,  and  explained  his  reasons  for  compel- 
ling some  Englishmen  to  pay  him  a  horse. 


172  LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

"  *  They  would  not  sell  him  any  powder,  thongh  they  had 
plenty ;  so  he  compelled  them  to  give  it  and  the  horse  for 
nothing.  He  would  not  deny  the  extortion  to  me ;  that  would 
be  '  boherehere '  (swindling).'  " 

Livingstone  here  witnessed  the  second  part  of  a  ceremony 
called  "  sechu,"  which  was  practiced  by  the  Bechuana  and 
Caifre  tribes,  the  rites  of  which  are  carefully  concealed. 

"  Just  at  the  dawn  of  day,  a  row  of  boys  of  nearly  fourteen 
years  of  age,  stood  naked  in  the  kotla,  each  having  a  pair  of 
sandals  as  a  shield  on  his  hands.  Facing  them  stood  the  men 
of  the  town  in  a  similar  state  of  nudity,  all  armed  with  long, 
thin  wands,  of  a  tough,  strong,  supple  bush  called  moretloa 
(Greioia  Jlava),  and  engaged  in  a  dance  named  'koha,'  in 
which  questions  are  put  to  the  boys,  as  '  Will  you  guard  the 
chief  well  ?'  '  Will  you  herd  the  cattle  well  ?'  and,  while  the 
latter  give  an  affirmative  response,  the  men  rush  forward  to 
them,  and  each  aims  a  full-weight  blow  at  the  back  of  one  of 
the  boys.  Shielding  himself  with  the  sandals  above  his  head, 
he  causes  the  supple  wand  to  descend  and  bend  into  his  back, 
and  every  stroke  inflicted  thus  makes  the  blood  squirt  out  of 
a  wound  a  foot  or  eighteen  inches  long.  At  the  end  of  the 
dance,  the  boys'  backs  are  seamed  with  wounds  and  weals, 
the  scars  of  which  remain  through  life.  This  is  intended  to 
harden  the  young  soldiers,  and  prepare  them  for  the  rank  of 
men.  After  this  ceremony,  and  after  killing  a  rhinoceros, 
they  may  marry  a  wife. 

"  A  somewhat  analogous  ceremony  (boyale)  takes  place  for 
young  women,  and  the  protegees  appear  abroad,  drilled  under 
the  surveillance  of  an  old  lady,  to  the  carrying  of  water. 
They  are  clad  during  the  whole  time,  in  a  dress  composed  of 
ropes  made  of  alternate  pumpkin-seeds  and  bits  of  reed  strung 
together,  and  wound  round  the  body  in  a  figure-of-eight 
fashion.  They  are  inured  in  this  way  to  bear  fatigue,  and 
carry  large  pots  of  water  under  the  guidance  of  the  stern  old 
hag.  They  have  often  scars  from  bits  of  burning  charcoal 
having  been  applied  to  the  forearm,  which  must  have  been 
done  to  test  their  power  of  bearing  pain. 


THE  GIRL'S  ORDEAL  173 

On  the  8th  of  February,  Livingstone  left  Motlatsa,  and 
passed  down  the  dry  bed  of  the  Mokoko  which,  in  the  mem- 
ory of  persons  now  living,  was  a  flowing  stream.  At  Ncho- 
kotsa  the  thermometer  stood  at  96°  during  the  day  in  the 
coolest  shade ;  the  country  was  parched,  and  water  scarce. 

"  We  dug  out  several  wells ;  and  as  we  had  on  each  occasion 
to  wait  till  the  water  flowed  in  again,  and  then  allow  our  cat- 
tle to  feed  a  day  or  two,  and  slake  their  thirst  thoroughly,  as 
far  as  that  could  be  done,  before  starting,  our  progress  was 
but  slow.  At  Koobe  there  was  such  a  mass  of  mud  in  the 
pond,  worked  up  by  the  wallowing  rhinoceros  to  the  consis- 
tency of  mortar,  that  only  by  great  labor  could  we  get  a  space 
cleared  at  one  side  for  the  water  to  ooze  through  and  collect 
in  for  the  oxen.  Should  the  rhinoceros  come  back,  a  single' 
roll  in  the  great  mass  we  had  thrown  on  one  side,  would  have 
rendered  all  our  labor  vain.  It  was  therefore  necessary 
for  us  to  guard  the  spot  at  night.  On  these  great  flats  all 
around  we  saw  in  the  white,  sultry  glare,  herds  of  zebras, 
gnus,  and  occasionally  buffaloes,  standing  for  days,  looking 
wistfully  toward  the  wells  for  a  share  of  the  nasty  water. 

"  As  we  went  north  the  country  became  very  lovely  ;  many 
new  trees  appeared ;  the  grass  was  green,  and  often  higher 
than  the  wagons ;  the  vines  festooned  the  trees,  among  which 
appeared  the  real  banian,  with  its  drop  shoots,  and  the  wild 
date  and  palmyra,  and  several  other  trees  which  were  new  to 
me;  the  hollows  contained  large  patches  of  water.  Next 
came  water-courses,  now  resembling  small  rivers,  twenty  yards 
broad  and  four  feet  deep.  The  further  we  went,  the  broader 
and  deeper  these  became ;  their  bottoms  contained  great  num- 
bers of  deep  holes,  made  by  elephants  wading  in  them ;  in 
these  the  oxen  floundered  desperately,  so  that  our  wagon-pole 
broke,  compelling  us  to  work  up  to  the  breast  in  water  for 
three  hours  and  a  half ;  yet  I  suffered  no  harm. 

"  The  forest,  through  which  we  were  slowly  toiling,  daily 
became  more  dense,  and  we  were  kept  almost  constantly  at 
work  with  the  axe ;  there  was  much  more  leanness  in  the 
trees  here  than  farther  south. 


LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

"  Fleming  had  until  this  time  always  assisted  to  drive  his 
own  wagon,  but  about  the  end  of  March  he  knocked  up,  as 
well  as  his  people.  As  I  could  not  drive  two  wagons,  I  shared 
with  him  the  remaining  water,  half  a  caskful,  and  went  on, 
with  the  intention  of  coming  back  for  him  as  soon  as  we 
should  reach  the  next  pool.  Heavy  rain  now  commenced ;  I 
was  employed  the  whole  day  in  cutting  down  trees,  and  every 
stroke  of  the  axe  brought  down  a  thick  shower  on  my  back, 
which  in  the  hard  work  was  very  refreshing,  as  the  water 
found  its  way  down  into  my  shoes.  In  the  evening  we  met 
some  Bushmen,  who  volunteered  to  show  us  a  pool ;  and  hav- 
ing unyoked,  I  walked  some  miles  in  search  of  it.  As  it 
became  dark  they  showed  their  politeness — a  quality  which 
is  by  no  means  confined  entirely  to  the  civilized — by  walking 
in  front,  breaking  the  branches  which  hung  across  the  path, 
and  pointing  out  the  fallen  trees.  On  returning  to  the  wagon, 
we  found  that  being  left  alone  had  brought  out  some  of  Flem- 
ing's energy,  for  he  had  managed  to  come  up. 

"  As  the  water  in  this  pond  dried  up,  we  were  soon  obliged 
to  move  again.  One  of  the  Bushmen  took  out  his  dice,  and, 
after  throwing  them,  said  that  God  told  him  to  go  home.  He 
threw  again  in  order  to  show  me  the  command,  but  the  oppo- 
site result  followed ;  so  he  remained  and  was  useful,  for  we 
lost  the  oxen  by  a  lion  driving  them  off  a  great  distance. 

"  The  Bechuanas  will  keep  on  the  sick-list  as  long  as  they 
feel  any  weakness  ;  so  I  at  last  began  to  be  anxious  that  they 
should  make  a  little  exertion  to  get  forward  on  our  way.  One 
of  them,  however,  happening  to  move  a  hundred  yards  from 
the  wagon,  fell  down,  and,  being  unobserved,  remained  the 
whole  night  in  the  pouring  rain  totally  insensible ;  another 
was  subjected  to  frequent  swooning ;  but,  making  beds  in  the 
wagons  for  these  our  worst  cases,  with  the  help  of  the  Bak- 
wain  and  the  Bushmen,  we  moved  slowly  on.  We  had  to 
nurse  the  sick  like  children ;  and,  like  children  recovering 
from  illness,  the  better  they  became  the  more  impudent  they 
grew.  This  was  seen  in  the  peremptory  orders  they  would 
give  with  their  now  piping  voices.  Nothing  that  we  did 


ARRIVAL  AT  LINTANTI.  175 

pleased  them ;  and  the  laughter  with  which  I  received  their 
ebullitions,  though  it  was  only  the  real  expression  of  gladness 
at  their  recovery,  and  amusement  at  the  ridiculous  part  they 
acted,  only  increased  their  chagrin. 

"  We  at  last  came  to  the  Sanshureh,  which  presented  an 
impassable  barrier,  so  we  drew  up  under  a  magnificent  baobab- 
tree,  and  resolved  to  explore  the  river  for  a  ford.  The  great 
quantity  of  water  we  had  passed  through  was  part  of  the 
annual  inundation  of  the  Chobe  ;  and  this,  which  appeared  a 
large,  deep  river,  filled  in  many  parts  with  reeds,  and  having 
hippopotami  in  it,  is  only  one  of  the  branches  by  which  it 
sends  its  superabundant  water  to  the  southeast.  In  company 
with  the  Bushmen  I  explored  the  banks  of  the  Sanshureh. 
We  waded  a  long  way  among  the  reeds  in  water  breast  deep, 
but  always  found  a  broad,  deep  space  free  from  vegetation 
and  unfordable." 

After  much  delay  and  trouble,  Livingstone  and  one  of  his 
men  took  a  pontoon  to  the  junction  of  the  Sanshureh  with 
the  Chobe,  and  launched  themselves  on  a  deep  river  from 
eighty  to  one  hundred  yards  wide. 

"  I  gave  my  companion  strict  injunctions  to  stick  by  the 
pontoon  in  case  a  hippopotamus  should  look  at  us ;  nor  was 
this  caution  unnecessary,  for  one  came  up  at  our  side,  and 
made  a  desperate  plunge  off.  We  had  passed  over  him.  The 
wave  he  made  caused  the  pontoon  to  glide  quickly  away  from 
him. 

"We  paddled  on  from  midday  till  sunset.  There  was 
nothing  but  a  wall  of  reed  on  each  bank,  and  we  saw  every 
prospect  of  spending  a  supperless  night  in  our  float ;  but  just 
as  the  short  twilight  of  these  parts  was  commencing,  we  per- 
ceived on  the  north  bank  the  village  of  Moremi,  one  of  the 
Makololo,  whose  acquaintance  I  had  made  on  our  former  visit, 
and  who  was  now  located  on  the  island  Mahonta  (lat.  17°  58 ' 
S.,  long.  24°  6 '  E.).  The  villagers  looked  as  we  may  suppose 
people  do  who  see  a  ghost,  and  in  their  figurative  way  of 
speaking  said, 

" l  He  has  dropped  among  us  from  the  clouds,  yet  came 
9 


1T6  LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

riding  on  the  back  of  a  hippopotamus !  "We  Makololo  thought 
no  one  could  cross  the  Chobe  without  our  knowledge,  but 
here  he  drops  among  us  like  a  bird.' 

"Next  day  we  returned  in  canoes  across  the  flooded  lands, 
and  found  that,  in  our  absence,  the  men  had  allowed  the  cat- 
tle to  wander  into  a  very  small  patch  of  wood  to  the  west 
containing  the  tsetse  :  this  carelessness  cost  me  ten  fine  large 
oxen.  After  remaining  a  few  days,  some  of  the  head  men  of 
the  Makololo  came  down  from  Linyanti,  with  a  large  party 
of  Barotse,  to  take  us  across  the  river.  This  they  did  in  fine 
style,  swimming  and  diving  among  the  oxen  more  like  alli- 
gators than  men,  and  taking  the  wagons  to  pieces  and  carry- 
ing them  across  on  a  number  of  canoes  lashed  together.  "We 
were  now  among  friends ;  so  going  about  thirty  miles  to  the 
north,  in  order  to  avoid  the  still  flooded  lands  on  the  north 
of  the  Chobe,  we  turned  westward  toward  Linyanti  (lat.  18° 
17'  20"  S.,  long.  23°  50'  9"  E.),  where  we  arrived  on  the 
23d  of  May,  1853.  This  is  the  capital  town  of  the  Makololo 
and  only  a  short  distance  from  our  wagon-stand  of  1851.** 


CHAPTER  X. 
LIFE  IN  THE  MAKOLOLO  CAPITAL. 

whole  population  of  Linyanti,  numbering  between 
_L  six  and  seven  thousand  souls,  turned  out  en  masse  to  see 
the  wagons  in  motion.  They  had  never  witnessed  the  phe- 
nomenon before,  we  having  on  the  former  occasion  departed  by 
night.  Sekeletu,  now  in  power,  received  us  in  what  is  con- 
sidered royal  style,  setting  before  us  a  great  number  of  pots 
of  boyaloa,  the  beer  of  the  country.  These  were  brought  by 
women,  and  each  bearer  takes  a  good  draught  of  the  beer 
when  she  sets  it  down,  by  way  of  '  tasting,'  to  show  that  there 
is  no  poison. 

"  The  court  herald,  an  old  man  who  occupied  the  post  also 
in  Sebituane's  time,  stood  up,  and  after  some  antics,  such  as 
leaping  and  shouting  at  the  top  of  his  voice,  roared  out  some 
adulatory  sentences,  as, 

"  *  Don't  I  see  the  white  man  ?  Don't  I  see  the  comrade 
of  Sebituane?  Don't  I  see  the  father  of  Sekeletu  ?'—-<  We 
want  sleep.' — 'Give  your  son  sleep,  my  lord,'  etc.,  etc. 

"  The  perquisites  of  this  man  are  the  heads  of  all  the  cattle 
slaughtered  by  the  chief,  and  he  even  takes  a  share  of  the 
tribute  before  it  is  distributed  and  taken  out  of  the  kotla. 
He  is  expected  to  utter  all  the  proclamations,  call  assemblies, 
keep  the  kotla  clean,  and  the  fire  burning  every  evening, 
and  when  a  person  is  executed  in  public,  he  drags  away  the 
body. 

"  I  found  Sekeletu  a  young  man  of  eighteen  years  of  age, 
of  that  dark  yellow  or  coffee-and-milk  color,  of  which  the 

177 


LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

Makololo  are  so  proud,  because  it  distinguishes  them  consid- 
erably from  the  black  tribes  on  the  river.  He  is  about  five 
feet  seven  in  height,  and  neither  so  good  looking  nor  of  so  much 
ability  as  his  father  was,  but  is  equally  friendly  to  the  English. 

"  Sebituane  installed  his  daughter  Mamoehisane,  into  the 
chieftainship  long  before  his  death,  but,  with  all  his  acute- 
ness,  the  idea  of  her  having  a  husband  who  should  not  be  her 
lord  did  not  seem  to  enter  his  mind.  He  wished  to  make 
her  his  successor,  probably  in  imitation  of  some  of  the  negro 
tribes  with  whom  he  had  come  into  contact ;  but,  being  of 
the  Bechuana  race,  he  could  not  look  upon  the  husband 
except  as  the  woman's  lord ;  so  he  told  her  all  the  men  were 
hers — she  might  take  any  one,  but  ought  to  keep  none.  In 
fact,  he  thought  she  might  do  writh  the  men  what  he  could 
do  with  the  women ;  but  these  men  had  other  wives ;  and, 
according  to  a  saying  in  the  country,  "  the  tongues  of  women 
can  not  be  governed,"  they  made  her  miserable  by  their 
remarks.  One  man  whom  she  chose  was  even  called  her 
•wife,  and  her  son  the  child  of  Mamochisane's  wife ;  but  the 
arrangement  was  so  distasteful  to  Mamochisaue  herself  that, 
as  soon  as  Sebituane  died,  she  said  she  never  would  consent 
to  govern  the  Makololo  so  long  as  she  had  a  brother  living. 

"  Sekeletu,  being  afraid  of  another  member  of  the  family, 
Mpepe,  who  had  pretensions  to  the  chieftainship,  urged  his 
sister  strongly  to  remain  as  she  had  always  been,  and  allow 
him  to  support  her  authority  by  leading  the  Makololo  when 
they  went  forth  to  war.  Three  days  were  spent  in  public 
discussion  on  the  point.  Mpepe  insinuated  that  Sekeletu 
was  not  the  lawful  son  of  Sebituane,  on  account  of  his 
mother  having  been  the  wife  of  another  chief  before  her 
marriage  with  Sebituane;  Mamochisane,  however,  upheld 
Sekeletu's  claims,  and  at  last  stood  up  in  the  assembly  and 
addressed  him  with  a  womanly  gush  of  tears. 

" '  I  have  been  a  chief  only  because  my  father  wished  it. 
I  always  would  have  preferred  to  be  married  and  have  a 
family  like  other  women.  You,  Sekeletu,  must  be  chief,  and 
build  up  your  father's  house. ' 


THE  MAKOLOLO  LADIES.  179 

"  Soon  after  our  arrival  at  Linyanti,  Sekeletu  took  me  aside, 
and  pressed  me  to  mention  those  things  I  liked  best  and 
hoped  to  get  from  him.  Any  thing,  either  in  or  out  of  his 
town,  should  be  freely  given  if  I  would  only  mention  it.  I 
explained  to  him  that  my  object  was  to  elevate  him  and  his 
people  to  be  Christians ;  but  he  replied  he  did  not  wish  to 
learn  to  read  the  Book,  for  he  was  afraid  '  it  might  change 
his  heart,  and  make  him  content  with  only  one  wife,  like 
Sechele.' 

"It  was  of  little  use  to  urge  that  the  change  of  heart 
implied  contentment  with  one  wife  equal  to  his  present  com- 
placency in  polygamy.  Such  a  preference  after  the  change 
of  mind  could  not  now  be  understood  by  him  any  more  than 
the  real,  unmistakable  pleasure  of  religious  services  can  by 
those  who  have  not  experienced  what  is  known  by  the  term 
the  "  new  heart."  I  assured  him  that  nothing  was  expected 
but  by  his  own  voluntary  decision.  '  No,  no ;  he  wanted 
always  to  have  five  wives  at  least.'  I  liked  the  frankness 
of  Sekeletu,  for  nothing  is  so  wearying  to  the  spirit  as  talk- 
ing to  those  who  agree  with  every  thing  advanced. 

"  The  Makololo  ladies  are  liberal  in  their  presents  of  milk 
and  other  food,  and  seldom  require  to  labor,  except  in  the 
way  of  beautifying  their  own  huts  and  court-yards.  They 
cut  their  woolly  hair  quite  short,  and  delight  in  having  the 
whole  person  shining  with  butter.  Their  dress  is  a  kilt 
reaching  to  the  knees ;  its  material  is  ox-hide,  made  as  soft  as 
cloth.  It  is  not  ungraceful.  A  soft  skin  mantle  is  thrown 
across  the  shoulders  when  the  lady  is  unemployed,  but  when 
engaged  in  any  sort  of  labor  she  throws  this  aside,  and  works 
in  the  kilt  alone.  The  ornaments  most  coveted  are  large 
brass  anklets  as  thick  as  the  little  finger,  and  armlets  of  both 
brass  and  ivory,  the  latter  often  an  inch  broad.  Strings  of 
beads  are  hung  around  the  neck,  the  fashionable  colors  being 
light  green  and  pink. 

"  The  women  have  somewhat  the  same  ideas  with  ourselves 
of  what  constitutes  comeliness.  They  came  frequently  and 
asked  for  the  looking-glass;  and  the  remarks  they  made — 


180  LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

while  I  was  engaged  in  reading,  and  apparently  not  attend- 
ing to  them — on  first  seeing  themselves  therein,  were  amus- 
ingly ridiculous.  "  Is  that  me  ?  "  "  What  a  big  mouth  I 
have?  "  "  My  ears  are  as  big  as  pumpkin-leaves."  "  I  have 
no  chin  at  all."  Or,  "  I  would  have  been  pretty,  but  am 
spoiled  by  these  high  cheek-bones."  "  See  how  my  head 
shoots  up  in  the  middle !  "  laughing  vociferously  all  the  time 
at  their  own  jokes.  They  readily  perceive  any  defect  in 
each  other,  and  give  nick-names  accordingly.  One  man  came 
alone  to  have  a  quiet  gaze  at  his  own  features  once,  when  he 
thought  I  was  asleep ;  after  twisting  his  mouth  about  in 
various  directions,  he  remarked  to  himself, 

" '  People  say  I  am  ugly,  and  how  very  ugly  I  am  indeed  ! ' 

"  My  object  being  first  of  all  to  examine  the  country  for  a 
healthy  locality,  before  attempting  to  make  a  path  to  either 
the  East  or  "West  Coast,  I  proposed  to  Sekeletu  the  plan  of 
ascending  the  great  river  which  we  had  discovered  in  1851. 
He  volunteered  to  accompany  me,  and,  when  we  got  about 
sixty  miles  away,  on  the  road  to  Sesheke,  we  encountered 
Mpepe.  Sekeletu  and  his  companions  were  mounted  on 
oxen,  though,  having  neither  saddle  nor  bridle,  they  were 
perpetually  falling  off. 

"  Mpepe,  armed  with  a  little  axe,  came  along  a  path  parallel 
to,  but  a  quarter  of  a  mile  distant  from,  that  of  our  party, 
and,  when  he  saw  Sekeletu,  he  ran  with  all  his  might  toward 
ns ;  but  Sekeletu,  being  on  his  guard,  galloped  off  to  an  adja- 
cent village.  He  then  withdrew  somewhere  till  all  our  party 
came  up.  Mpepe  had  given  his  own  party  to  understand 
that  he  would  cut  down  Sekeletu,  either  on  their  first  meet- 
ing, or  at  the  breaking  up  of  their  first  conference.  The 
former  intention  having  been  thus  frustrated,  he  then  deter- 
mined to  effect  his  purpose  after  their  first  interview.  I 
happened  to  sit  down  between  the  two  in  the  hut  where  they 
met.  Being  tired  with  riding  all  day  in  the  sun,  I  soon  asked 
Sekeletu  where  I  should  sleep,  and  he  replied  : — 

"  '  Come,  I  will  show  you.' 

"  As  we  rose  together,  I  unconsciously  covered  Sekeletu's 


MPEPE  EXECUTED.  181 

body  with  mine,  and  saved  him  from  the  blow  of  the  assassin. 
I  knew  nothing  of  the  plot,  but  remarked  that  all  Mpepe's 
men  kept  hold  of  their  arms,  even  after  we  had  sat  down — a 
thing  quite  unusual  in  the  presence  of  a  chief;  and  when 
Sekeletu  showed  me  the  hut  in  which  I  was  to  spend  the 
night,  he  said  to  me : — 

" '  That  man  wishes  to  kill  me.' 

"  I  afterward  learned  that  some  of  Mpepe's  attendants  had 
divulged  the  secret ;  and,  bearing  in  mind  his  father's  instruc- 
tions, Sekeletu  put  Mpepe  to  death  that  night.  It  was  man- 
aged so  quietly,  that,  although  I  was  sleeping  within  a  few 
yards  of  the  scene,  I  knew  nothing  of  it  till  the  next  day. 
J^okuane  went  to  the  fire,  at  which  Mpepe  sat,  with  a  hand- 
ful of  snuff,  as  if  he  were  about  to  sit  down  and  regale  him- 
self therewith.  Mpepe  said  to  him,  "  Nsepisa  "  (cause  me  to 
take  a  pinch) ;  and,  as  he  held  out  his  hand,  Nokuane  caught 
hold  of  it,  while  another  man  seized  the  other  hand  and 
leading  him  out  a  mile  speared  him. 

"  This  is  the  common  mode  of  executing  criminals.  They 
are  not  allowed  to  speak;  though  on  one  occasion  a  man, 
feeling  his  wrist  held  too  tightly,  said,  'Hold  me  gently, 
can't  you  ?  you  will  soon  be  led  out  in  the  same  way  your- 
selves.' 

"Mpepe's  men  fled  to  the  Bajrotse,  and,  it  being  unad- 
visable  for  us  to  go  thither  during  the  commotion  which 
followed  on  Mpepe's  death,  we  returned  to  Linyanti. 

"  Having  waited  a  month  at  Linyanti,  we  again  departed, 
for  the  purpose  of  ascending  the  river  from  Sesheke.  To 
the  Barotse  country,  the  capital  of  which  is  ISTariele  or  Naliele 
(lat  15°  24'  17 "  S.,  long.  23°  5'  54"  E.),  I  went  in  company 
with  Sekeletu  and  about  one  hundred  and  sixty  attendants. 
We  had  most  of  the  young  men  with  us,  and  many  of  the 
under-chief  besides. 

"  It  was  pleasant  to  look  back  on  the  long-extended  line  of 
our  attendants,  as  it  twisted  and  bent  according  to  the  curves 
of  the  footpath,  or  in  and  out  behind  the  mounds,  the  ostrich 
feathers  of  the  men  waving  in  the  wind.  Some  had  the 


182  LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

white  ends  of  ox-tails  on  their  heads,  Hussar  fashion,  and 
others  great  bunches  of  black  ostrich  feathers,  or  caps  made 
of  lions'  manes.  Some  wore  red  tunics,  or  various-colored 
prints  which  the  chief  had  bought  from  Fleming ;  the  com- 
mon men  carried  burdens;  the  gentlemen  walked  with  a 
small  club  of  rhinoceros-horn  in  their  hands,  and  had  servants 
to  carry  their  shields;  while  the  "Machaka,"  battle-axe  men, 
carried  their  own,  and  were  liable  at  any  time  to  be  sent  off 
a  hundred  miles  on  an  errand,  and  expected  to  run  all  the 
way. 

"Sekeletu  is  always  accompanied  by  his  own  Mopato,  a 
number  of  young  men  of  his  own  age.  When  he  sits  down 
they  crowd  around  him ;  those  who  are  nearest  eat  out  of  the 
same  dish,  for  the  Makololo  chiefs  pride  themselves  on  eat- 
ing with  their  people. 

"  When  we  arrived  at  any  village  the  women  all  turned 
out  to  lulliloo  their  chief.  Their  shrill  voices,  to  which  they 
give  a  tremulous  sound  by  a  quick  motion  of  the  tongue, 
psal  forth,  «  Great  lion  !  "  "  Great  chief ! "  "  Sleep,  my  lord ! " 
etc.  The  men  utter  similar  salutations;  and  Sekeletu 
receives  all  with  becoming  indifference.  After  a  few  min- 
utes' conversation  and  telling  the  news,  the  head  man  of  the 
village,  who  is  almost  always  a  Makololo,  rises,  and  brings 
forth  a  number  of  large  pots  of  beer.  Calabashes,  being  used 
.as  drinking-cups,  are  handed  round,  and  as  many  as  can  par- 
take of  the  beverage  do  so,  grasping  the  vessels  so  eagerly 
that  they  are  in  danger  of  being  broken. 

"  Sekeletu  and  I  had  each  a  little  gypsy-tent  in  which  to 
sleep.  The  Makololo  huts  are  generally  clean,  while  those 
of  the  Makalaka  are  infested  with  vermin.  The  cleanliness 
of  the  former  is  owing  to  the  habit  of  frequently  smearing 
the  floors  with  a  plaster  composed  of  cowdung  and  earth.  If 
we  slept  in  the  tent  in  some  villages,  the  mice  ran  over  our 
faces  and  disturbed  our  sleep,  or  hungry  prowling  dogs  would 
eat  our  shoes  and  leave  only  the  soles.  When  they  were 
guilty  of  this  and  other  misdemeanors,  we  got  the  loan  of  a 
hut.  The  best  sort  of  Makololo  huts  consist  of  three  circular 


AN  EXCURSION  WITH  SEKELETU.  183 

walls,  with  small  holes  as  doors,  each  similar  to  that  in  a  dog- 
house ;  and  it  is  necessary  to  bend  down  the  body  to  get  in, 
even  when  on  all-fours.  The  roof  is  formed  of  reeds  or  straight 
sticks,  in  shape  like  a  Chinaman's  hat,  bound  firmly  together 
with  circular  bands,  which  are  lashed  with  the  strong  inner 
bark  of  the  mimosa-tree.  When  all  prepared  except  the 
thatch,  it  is  lifted  on  to  the  circular  wall,  the  rim  resting  on 
a  circle  of  poles,  between  each  of  which  the  third  wall  is 
built.  The  roof  is  thatched  writh  fine  grass,  and  sewed  with 
the  same  material  as  the  lashings ;  and,  as  it  projects  far  be- 
yond the  walls,  and  reaches  within  four  feet  of  the  ground, 
the  shade  is  the  best  to  be  found  in  the  country.  These  huts 
are  very  cool  in  the  hottest  day,  but  are  close  and  deficient  in 
ventilation  by  night. 

"  The  river  at  Katonga  is  somewhat  broader  than  at  Sesheke, 
and  certainly  not  less  than  six  hundred  yards.  It  flows  some- 
what slowly  in  the  first  part  of  its  eastern  course.  When  the 
canoes  came  from  Sekhesi  to  take  us  over,  one  of  the  comrades 
of  Sebituane  rose,  and,  looking  to  Sekeletu,  called  out, 

" '  The  elders  of  a  host  always  take  the  lead  in  an  attack.' 

"  This  was  understood  at  once ;  and  Sekeletu,  with  all  the 
young  men,  were  obliged  to  give  the  elders  the  precedence, 
and  remain  on  the  southern  bank  and  see  that  all  went  order- 
ly into  the  canoes. 

"  Having  procured  a  sufficient  number  of  canoes,  we  began 
to  ascend  the  river.  I  had  six  paddlers,  and  the  larger  canoe 
of  Sekeletu  had  ten.  They  stand  upright,  and  keep  the 
stroke  with  great  precision,  though  they  change  from  side  to 
side  as  the  course  demands.  The  men  at  the  head  and  stern 
are  selected  from  the  strongest  and  most  expert  of  the  whole. 
The  canoes,  being  flat-bottomed,  can  go  into  very  shallow 
water ;  and  whenever  the  men  can  feel  the  bottom,  they  use 
the  paddles,  which  are  about  eight  feet  long,  as  poles  to  punt 
with.  Our  fleet  consisted  of  thirty -three  canoes,  and  about 
one  hundred  and  sixty  men.  We  proceeded  rapidly  up  the 
river,  and  I  felt  the  pleasure  of  looking  on  lands  which  had 
never  been  seen  by  a  European  before. 


184:  LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

"  This  visit  was  the  first  Sekeletu  had  made  to  these  parts 
since  he  attained  the  chieftainship.  Those  who  had  taken 
part  with  Mpepe  were  consequently  in  great  terror.  When 
we  came  to  the  town  of  Mpepe's  father,  as  he  and  another 
man  had  counseled  Mamochisane  to  put  Sekeletu  to  death 
and  marry  Mpepe,  the  two  were  led  forth  and  tossed  into  the 
river.  Nokuany  was  again  one  of  the  executioners.  When 
I  remonstrated  against  human  blood  being  shed  in  the  off-hand 
way  in  which  they  were  proceeding,  the  counselors  justified 
their  acts  by  the  evidence  given  by  Mamochisane,  and  calmly 
added,  '  You  see  we  are  still  Boers ;  we  are  not  yet  taught.' 

"Before  reaching  the  Loeti  we  came  to  a  number  of  people 
from  the  Lobale  region,  hunting  hippopotami.  They  fled 
precipitately  as  soon  as  they  saw  the  Makololo,  leaving  their 
utensils  and  clothing.  My  own  Makalaka,  who  were  accus- 
tomed to  plunder  wrherever  they  went,  rushed  after  them 
like  furies,  totally  regardless  of  my  shouting.  As  this  pro- 
ceeding would  have  destroyed  my  character  entirely  at  Lobale, 
I  took  my  stand  on  a  commanding  position  as  they  returned, 
and  forced  them  to  lay  down  all  the  plunder  on  a  sand-bank, 
and  leave  it  there  for  its  lawful  owners. 

"  An  incident,  which  occurred  at  the  confluence  of  the 
Leeba  and  Leeambye,  may  be  mentioned  here,  as  showing  a 
more  vivid  perception  of  the  existence  of  spiritual  beings, 
and  greater  proneness  to  worship  than  among  the  Bechuanas. 
Having  taken  lunar  observations  in  the  morning,  I  was  wait- 
ing for  a  meridian  altitude  of  the  sun  for  the  latitude ;  my 
chief  boatman  was  sitting  by,  in  order  to  pack  up  the  instru- 
ments as  soon  as  I  had  finished ;  there  was  a  large  halo,  about 
20°  in  diameter,  round  the  sun ;  thinking  that  the  humidity 
of  the  atmosphere,  which  this  indicated,  might  betoken  rain, 
I  asked  him  if  his  experience  did  not  lead  him  to  the  same 
view. 

" ' Oh  no,'  replied  he ;  'it  is  the  Barimo  (gods  or  departed 
spirits),  who  have  called  a  picho ;  don't  you  see  they  have  the 
Lord  (sun)  in  the  centre  ?' 

"  It  was  now  quite  evident  that  no  healthy  location  could 


SPEAIUNO  THE  HIPPOPOTAMUS. 


A  NINE  WEEKS'  TOUK.  187 

be  obtained  in  which  the  Makololo  would  be  allowed  to  live 
in  peace.  I  had  thus  a  fair  excuse,  if  I  had  chosen  to  avail 
myself  of  it,  of  coming  home  and  saying  that  the  "  door  was 
shut,"  because  the  Lord's  time  had  not  yet  come.  But  believ- 
ing that  it  was  my  duty  to  devote  some  portion  of  my  life  to 
these  (to  me  at  least)  very  confiding  and  affectionate  Makololo, 
I  resolved  to  follow  out  the  second  part  of  my  plan,  though 
I  had  failed  in  accomplishing  the  first." 

The  party  then  proceeded  to  the  town  of  Ma-Sekeletu, 
(mother  of  Sekeluta)  opposite  the  island  of  Loyela  where  they 
were  received  with  great  rejoicings;  soon  afterwards  they 
returned  to  Linyanti.  Of  this  trip  Livingstone  says : — 

"  I  had  been,  during  a  nine  weeks'  tour,  in  closer  contact 
with  heathenism  than  I  had  ever  been  before ;  and  though  all, 
including  the  chief,  were  as  kind  and  attentive  to  me  as  pos- 
sible, and  there  was  no  want  of  food  (oxen  being  slaughtered 
daily,  sometimes  ten  at  a  time,  more  than  sufficient  for  the 
wants  of  all),  yet  to  endure  the  dancing,  roaring,  and  singing, 
the  jesting,  anecdotes,  grumbling,  quarreling,  and  murdering 
of  these  children  of  nature,  seemed  more  like  a  severe  pen- 
ance than  anything  I  had  before  met  with  in  the  course  of 
my  missionary  duties.  I  took  thence  a  more  intense  disgust 
at  heathenism  than  I  had  before,  and  formed  a  greatly  ele- 
vated opinion  of  the  latent' effects  of  missions  in  the  south, 
among  tribes  which  are  reported  to  have  been  as  savage  as 
the  Makololo. 

"  The  longitude  and  latitude  of  Linyanti  (lat.  18°  17'  20" 
S.,  long.  23°  50'  9"  E.)  showed  that  St.  Philip  de  Benguela 
was  much  nearer  to  us  than  Loanda ;  and  I  might  have  easily 
made  arrangements  with  the  Mambari  to  allow  me  to  accom- 
pany them  as  far  as  Bihe,  which  is  on  the  road  to  that  port ; 
but  it  is  so  undesirable  to  travel  in  a  path  once  trodden  by 
slave-traders  that  I  preferred  to  find  out  another  line  of 
march. 

"  Accordingly,  men  were  sent  at  my  suggestion  to  examine 
all  the  country  to  the  west,  to  see  if  any  belt  of  country  free 
from  tsetse  could  be  found  to  afford  us  an  outlet.  The  search 


188  LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

was  fruitless.  The  town  and  district  of  Linyanti  are  sur- 
rounded by  forests  infested  by  this  poisonous  insect,  except 
at  a  few  points,  as  that  by  which  we  entered  at  Sanshureh  and 
another  at  Sesheke.  But  the  lands  both  east  and  west  of  the 
Barotse  valley  are  free  from  this  insect  plague.  There,  how- 
ever, the  slave-trade  had  defiled  the  path,  and  no  one  ought 
to  follow  in  its  wake  unless  well-armed.  The  Mambari  had 
informed  me  that  many  English  lived  at  Loanda,  so  I  pre- 
pared to  go  hither.  The  prospect  of  meeting  with  country- 
men seemed  to  overbalance  the  toils  of  the  longer  march. 

"  A  '  picho '  was  called  to  deliberate  on  the  steps  proposed. 
In  these  assemblies  great  freedom  of  speech  is  allowed ;  and 
on  this  occasion  one  of  the  old  diviners  said : — 

"  '  Where  is  he  taking  you  to  ?  This  white  man  is  throw- 
ing you  away.  Your  garments  already  smell  of  blood.' 

"  This  man  was  a  noted  croaker.  He  always  dreamed 
something  dreadful  in  every  expedition,  and  was  certain  that 
an  eclipse  or  comet  betokened  the  propriety  of  flight.  But 
Sebituane  formerly  set  his  visions  down  to  cowardice,  and 
Sekeletu  only  laughed  at  him  now.  The  general  voice  was 
in  my  favor ;  so  a  band  of  twenty-seven  were  appointed  to 
accompany  me  to  the  west.  These  men  were  not  hired,  but 
sent  to  enable  me  to  accomplish  an  object  as  much  desired  by 
the  chief  and  most  of  his  people  as  by  me.  They  were  eager 
to  obtain  free  and  profitable  trade  with  white  men.  The 
desire  of  the  Makololo  for  direct  trade  with  the  sea-coast  coin- 
cided exactly  with  my  own  conviction  that  no  permanent  ele- 
vation of  a  people  can  be  effected  without  commerce. 

"  The  three  men  whom  I  had  brought  from  Kuruman  had 
frequent  relapses  of  the  fever ;  so,  finding  that  instead  of 
serving  me  I  had  to  wait  on  them,  I  decided  that  they  should 
return  to  the  south  with  Fleming  as  soon  as  he  had  finished 
his  trading.  I  was  then  entirely  dependent  on  my  twenty- 
seven  men,  whom  I  might  name  Zambesians,  for  there  were 
two  Mokololo  only,  while  the  rest  consisted  of  Barotse. 
Batoka,  Bashubia,  and  two  of  the  Ambonda. 

"  The  fever  had  caused,  considerable  wakeness  in  my  own 


TRIP  TO  LOANDA  DECIDED  OK  189 

frame,  and  a  strange  giddiness  when  I  looked  np  suddenly 
to  any  celestial  object,  for  every  tiling  seemed  to  rush  to  the 
left,  and  if  I  did  not  catch  hold  of  some  object,  I  fell  heavily 
on  the  ground.  The  Makololo  now  put  the  question,  'In 
the  event  of  your  death,  will  not  the  white  people  blame  us 
for  having  allowed  you  to  go  away  into  an  unhealthy, 
unknown  country  of  enemies  ?' 

"I  replied  that  none  of  my  friends  would  blame  them, 
because  I  would  leave  a  book  with  Sekeletu,  to  be  sent  to 
Mr.  Moffat  in  case  I  did  not  return,  which  would  explain  to 
him  all  that  had  happened  until  the  time  of  my  departure. 
The  book  was  a  volume  of  my  Journal;  and,  as  I  was 
detained  longer  than  I  expected  at  Loanda,  this  book,  with  a 
letter,  was  delivered  by  Sekeletu  to  a  trader,  and  I  have  been 
unable  to  trace  it.  I  regret  this  now,  as  it  contained  valuable 
notes  on  the  habits  of  wild  animals,  and  the  request  was  made 
in  the  letter  to  convey  the  volume  to  my  family. 

"  The  prospect  of  passing  away  from  this  fair  and  beautiful 
world  thus  came  before  me  in  a  plain,  matter-of-fact  form, 
and  it  did  seem  a  serious  thing  to  leave  wife  and  children — 
to  break  up  all  connection  with  earth,  and  enter  on  an  untried 
state  of  existence ;  and  I  find  myself  in  my  journal  pondering 
over  that  fearful  migration  which  lands  us  in  eternity,  won- 
dering whether  an  angel  will  soothe  the  fluttering  soul,  sadly 
flurried  as  it  must  be  on  entering  the  spirit  world,  and  hoping 
that  Jesus  might  speak  but  one  word  of  peace,  for  that  would 
establish  in  the  bosom  an  everlasting  calm.  But  as  I  had 
always  believed  that,  if  we  serve  God  at  all,  it  ought  to  be 
done  in  a  manly  way,  I  wrote  to  my  brother,  commending 
our  little  girl  to  his  care,  as  I  was  determined  to  "  succeed  or 
perish  "  in  the  attempt  to  open  up  this  part  of  Africa.  The 
Boers,  by  taking  possession  of  all  my  goods,  had  saved  me 
the  trouble  of  making  a  will;  and  considering  the  light 
heart  now  left  in  my  bosom,  and  some  faint  efforts  to  perform 
the  duty  of  Christian  forgiveness,  I  felt  that  it  was  better  to 
be  the  plundered  party  than  one  of  the  plunderers." 


CHAPTER  XT. 

LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 
(JOURNEY  FROM  LIKYANTI  TO  BHINTE.) 

ON  the  llth  of  November,  1853,  we  left  the  town  of  Lin- 
yanti,  accompanied  by  Sekeletu  and  his  principal  men,  to 
embark  on  the  Chobe.  The  chief  came  to  the  river  in  order 
to  see  that  all  was  right  at  parting.  The  chief  lent  me  his 
own  canoe,  and,  as  it  was  broader  than  usual,  I  could  turn, 
about  in  it  with  ease. 

"  The  Chobe  is  much  infested  by  hippopotami,  and,  as  cer- 
tain elderly  males  are  expelled  the  herd,  they  become  soured 
in  their  temper,  and  so  misanthropic  as  to  attack  every  canoe 
that  passes  near  them.  The  herd  is  never  dangerous,  except 
when  a  canoe  passes  into  the  midst  of  it  when  all  are  asleep, 
and  some  of  them  may  strike  the  canoe  in  terror.  To  avoid 
this,  it  is  generally  recommended  to  travel  by  day  near  the 
bank,  and  by  night  in  the  middle  of  the  stream. 

"After  spending  one  night  at  the  Makololo  village  on 
Mparia,  we  left  the  Chobe,  and,  turning  round,  began  to 
ascend  the  Leeambye ;  on  the  19th  of  November,  we  again 
reached  the  town  of  Sesheke. 

"  1  gave  many  public  addresses  to  the  people  of  Sesheke 
under  the  outspreading  camel-thorn-tree,  which  serves  as  a 
shade  to  the  kotla  on  the  high  bank  of  the  river.  It  was 
pleasant  to  see  the  long  lines  of  men,  women,  and  children 
winding  along  from  different  quarters  of  the  town,  each  party 
following  behind  their  respective  head-men.  They  often 
amounted  to  between  five  and  six  hundred,  and  required  an 

190 


UP  THE  LEEAMBYE.  191 

exertion  of  voice  which  brought  back  the  complaint  for  which 
I  had  got  the  uvula  excised  at  the  Cape.  They  were  always 
very  attentive  •  and  Moriantsane,  in  order,  as  he  thought,  to 
please  me,  on  one  occasion  rose  up  in  the  middle  of  the  dis- 
course, and  hurled  his  staff  at  the  heads  of  some  young  fellows 
whom  he  saw  working  with  a  skin  instead  of  listening. 

"  The  rapids  in  the  part  of  the  river  between  Katima-molelo 
and  !N"ameta  are  relieved  by  several  reaches  of  still,  deep  water, 
fifteen,  or  twenty  miles  long.  Jn  these,  very  large  herds  of 
hippopotami  are  seen,  and  the  deep  furrows  they  make,  in 
ascending  the  banks  to  graze  during  the  nights,  are  every 
where  apparent.  They  are  guided  back  to  water  by  the 
scent,  but  a  long  continued  pouring  rain  makes  it  impossible 
for  them  to  perceive,  by  that  means,  in  which  direction  the 
river  lies,  and  they  are  found  bewildered  on  the  land.  The 
hunters  take  advantage  of  their  helplessness  on  these  occa- 
sions to  kill  them." 

Dr.  Livingstone  describes  the  every  day  life  of  their  voy- 
age up  the  river  as  follows : — 

"  We  get  up  a  little  before  five  in  the  morning ;  it  is  then 
beginning  to  dawn.  While  I  am  dressing  coffee  is  made ; 
and,  having  filled  my  pannikin,  the  remainder  is  handed  to 
my  companions,  who  eagerly  partake  of  the  refreshing  bev- 
erage. The  servants  are  busy  loading  the  canoes,  while  the 
principal  men  are  sipping  the  coffee,  and,  that  being  soon 
over,  we  embark.  The  next  two  hours  are  the  most  pleasant 
part  of  the  day's  sail.  The  men  paddle  away  most  vigorously ; 
the  Barotse,  being  a  tribe  of  boatmen,  have  large,  deeply- 
developed  chests  and  shoulders,  with  indifferent  lower  extrem- 
ities. They  often  engage  in  loud  scolding  of  each  other  in 
order  to  relieve  the  tedium  of  their  work.  About  eleven  we 
land,  and  eat  any  meat  which  may  have  remained  from  the 
previous  evening  meal,  or  a  biscuit  with  honey,  and  drink 
water. 

"  After  an  hour's  rest  we  again  embark  and  cower  under 
an  umbrella.  The  heat  is  oppressive,  and,  being  weak  from 
the  last  attack  of  fever,  I  cannot  land  and  keep  the  camp 


194  LTVIXGSTONTl'S  LITE  AND  TRAVELS, 

supplied  with  flesh.  The  men,  being  quite  uncovered  in  the 
sun,  perspire  profusely,  and  in  the  afternoon  begin  to  stop,  as 
if  waiting  for  the  canoes  which  have  been  left  behind. 
Sometimes  we  reach  a  sleeping-place  two  hours  before  sunset, 
and,  all  being  troubled  with  languor,  we  gladly  remain  for 
the  night.  Coffee  again,  and  a  biscuit,  or  a  piece  of  coarse 
bread  made  of  maize  meal,  or  that  of  the  native  corn,  make 
up  the  bill  of  fare  for  the  evening,  unless  we  have  been  fort- 
unate enough  to  kill  something,  when  we  boil  a  potful  of 
flesh.  This  is  done  by  cutting  it  up  into  long  strips  and 
pouring  in  water  till  it  is  covered.  When  that  is  boiled  dry, 
the  meat  is  considered  ready. 

"  Part  of  our  company  marched  along  the  banks  with  the 
oxen,  and  part  went  in  the  canoes,  but  our  pace  was  regulated 
by  the  speed  of  the  men  on  shore.  The  number  of  alligators 
is  prodigious,  and  in  this  river  they  are  more  savage  than  in 
some  others.  Many  children  are  carried  off  annually  at 
Sesheke  and  other  towns ;  for,  notwithstanding  the  danger, 
when  they  go  down  for  water  they  almost  always  must  play 
a  while.  I  never  could  avoid  shuddering  on  seeing  my  men 
swimming  across  these  branches,  after  one  of  them  had  been 
caught  by  the  thigh  and  taken  below.  He,  however,  retained, 
as  nearly  all  of  them  in  the  most  trying  circumstances  do, 
his  full  presence  of  mind,  and,  having  a  small,  square,  ragged- 
edged  javelin  with  him,  when  dragged  to  the  bottom  gave 
the  alligator  a  stab  behind  the  shoulder.  The  alligator,  writh- 
ing in  pain,  left  him,  and  he  came  out  with  the  deep  marks 
of  the  reptile's  teeth  on  his  thigh. 

"  On  the  27th  of  December,  we  were  at  the  confluence  of 
the  Leeba  and  Leeambye.  Masiko,  the  Barotse  chief,  for 
whom  we  had  some  captives,  lived  nearly  due  east  of  this 
point.  They  were  two  little  boys,  a  little  girl,  a  young  man, 
and  two  middle-aged  women.  One  of  these  was  a  member 
of  a  Babimpe  tribe,  who  knock  out  both  upper  and  lower 
front  teeth  as  a  distinction.  As  we  had  been  informed  by 
the  captives  on  the  previous  Sunday,  that  Masiko  was  in  the 
habit  of  seizing  all  orphans  and  those  who  have  no  powerful 


CAPTIVES  RETURNED  TO  THEIR  HOMES  195 

friend  in  the  tribe,  and  selling  them  for  clothing  to  the 
Mambari,  We  thought  the  objection  of  the  women  to  go  first 
to  his  town  before  seeing  their  friends  quite  reasonable,  and 
resolved  to  send  a  party  of  our  own  people  to  see  them  safely 
among  their  relatives.  We  sent  Mosantu,  a  Batoka  man, 
and  his  companions,  with  the  captives. 

The  party  now  began  to  ascend  the  Leeba,  which  wound 
slowly  through  the  most  charming  meadows.  The  trees  were 
covered  with  a  profusion  of  the  freshest  foliage,  and  the 
grass,  which  had  been  burned  off  was  starting  up  luxuriantly. 

"  The  forests  became  more  dense  as  we  went  north.  We 
travel  much  more  in  the  deep  gloom  of  the  forest  than  in 
open  sunlight.  No  passage  existed  on  either  side  of  the  nar- 
row path  made  by  the  axe.  Large  climbing  plants  entwined 
themselves  around  the  trunks  and  branches  of  gigantic  trees 
like  boa  constrictors,  and  they  often  do  constrict  the  trees  by 
which  they  rise,  and,  killing  them,  stand  erect  themselves. 

"  There  was  a  considerable  pleasure,  in  spite  of  rain  and 
fever,  in  this  new  scenery.  The  deep  gloom  contrasted 
strongly  with  the  shadeless  glare  of  the  Kalahari,  which  had 
left  an  indelible  impression  on  my  memory.  Though 
drenched  day  by  day  at  this  time,  and  for  months  afterward,, 
it  was  long  before  I  could  believe  that  we  were  getting  too- 
much  of  a  good  thing.  Nor  could  I  look  at  water  being 
thrown  away  without  a  slight,  quick  impression  flitting  across, 
the  mind  that  we  were  guilty  of  wasting  it." 

On  arriving  at  a  part  of  the  river  opposite  the  village  of 
Manenko,  the  first  female  chief  whom  the  party  encountered, 
two  of  the  people  called  Balonda,  visited  them  in  a  small 
canoe,  and  then  went  away  to  report  to  Manenko.  They 
were  also  visited  by  a  number  of  the  people  of  an  Ambonda 
chief  named  Sekelenke,  who  lived  far  to  the  northwest. 

"  On  the  6th  of  January  we  reached  the  village  of  another 
female  chief,  named  Nyamoana,  who  is  said  to  be  the  mother 
of  Manenko,  and  sister  of  Shinte  or  Kabompo,  the  greatest 
Balonda  chief  in  this  part  of  the  country.  Her  people  had 
but  recently  come  to  the  present  locality,  and  had  erected 
10 


196  LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

only  twenty  huts.  Her  husband,  Samoana,  was  clothed  in  a 
kilt  of  green  and  red  baize,  and  was  armed  with  a  spear,  and 
a  broadsword  of  antique  form  about  eighteen  inches  long 
and  three  broad.  The  chief  and  her  husband  were  sitting  on 
skins  placed  in  the  middle  of  a  circle  thirty  paces  in  diameter, 
a  little  raised  above  the  ordinary  level  of  the  ground,  and 
having  a  trench  round  it.  Outside  the  trench  sat  about  a 
hundred  persons  of  all  ages  and  both  sexes. 

"  The  men  were  well  armed  with  bows,  arrows,  spears,  and 
broadswords.  Beside  the  husband  sat  a  rather  aged  woman, 
having  a  bad  outward  squint  in  the  left  eye.  We  put  down 
our  arms  about  forty  yards  off,  and  I  walked  up  to  the  centre 
of  the  circular  bench,  and  saluted  him  in  the  usual  way  by 
.clapping  the  hands  together  in  their  fashion.  He  pointed  to 
his  wife,  as  much  as  to  say,  the  honor  belongs  to  her.  I 
saluted  her  in  the  same  way,  and  a  mat  having  been  brought, 
I  squatted  down  in  front  of  them. 

"The  talker  was  then  called,  and  I  was  asked  who  was  my 
spokesman.  Having  pointed  to  Kolimbota,  who  knew  their 
dialect  best,  the  palaver  began  in  due  form.  I  explained  the 
real  objects  I  had  in  view.  Kolimbota  repeated  to  Nyamoa- 
na's  talker  what  I  had  said  to  him.  He  delivered  it  all  ver- 
batim to  her  husband,  who  repeated  it  again  to  her.  It  was 
thus  rehearsed  four  times  over,  in  a  tone  loud  enough  to  be 
heard  'by  the  whole  party  of  auditors.  The  response  came 
back  by  the  same  roundabout  route,  beginning  at  the  lady  to 
her  husband,  etc. 

"  As  the  Leeba  seemed  still  to  come  from  the  direction  in 
which  we  wished  to  go,  I  was  desirous  of  proceeding  farther 
up  with  the  canoes;  but  Nyamoana  was  anxious  that  we 
should  allow  her  people  to  conduct  us  to  her  brother  Shinte ; 
and  when  I  explained  the  advantage  of  water-carriage,  she 
represented  that  her  brother  did  not  live  near  the  river,  and, 
moreover,  there  was  a  cataract  in  front,  over  which  it  would 
be  difficult  to  convey  the  canoes.  She  was  afraid,  too,  that 
the  Balobale,  whose  country  lies  to  the  west  of  the  river,  not 
knowing  the  objects  for  which  we  had  come,  would  kill  us. 


INTERVIEW  WITH  FEMALE  CHIEFS.  197 

"  This  produced  considerable  effect  on. my  companions,  and 
inclined  them  to  the  plan  of  Nyamoana,  of  going  to  the  town 
of  her  brother  rather  than  ascending  the  Leeba.  The  arrival 
of  Manenko  herself  on  the  scene  threw  so  much  weight  into 
the  scale  on  their  side  that  I  was  forced  to  yield  the  point. 

"  Manenko  was  a  tall,  strapping  woman  about  twenty,  dis- 
tinguished by  a  profusion  of  ornaments  and  medicines  hung 
round  her  person ;  the  latter  are  supposed  to  act  as  charms. 
Her  body  was  smeared  all  over  with  a  mixture  of  fat  and  red 
ochre,  as  a  protection  against  the  weather ;  a  necessary  pre- 
caution, for  like  most  of  the  Balonda  ladies,  she  was  otherwise 
in  a  state  of  frightful  nudity.  This  was  not  from  want  of 
clothing,  for,  being  a  chief,  she  might  have  been  as  well  clad 
as  any  of  her  subjects,  but  from  her  peculiar  ideas  of  elegance 
in  dress. 

"  When  she  arrived  with  her  husband,  Sambanza,  they  lis- 
tened for  sometime  to  the  statements  I  was  making  to  the 
people  of  Nyamoana,  after  which  the  husband,  acting  as 
spokesman,  commenced  an  oration,  stating  the  reasons  for 
their  coming,  and  during  every  two  or  three  seconds  of  the 
delivery,  he  picked  up  a  little  sand,  and  rubbed  it  on  the 
upper  part  of  his  arms  and  chest.  This  is  a  common  mode 
of  salutation  in  Londa. 

"On  the  evening  of  the  day  in  which  Manenko  arrived,  we 
were  delighted  by  the  appearance  of  Mosantu  and  an  impos- 
ing embassy  from  Masiko.  It  consisted  of  all  his  under-chiefs, 
and  they  brought  a  fine  elephant's  tusk,  two  calabashes  of 
honey,  and  a  large  piece  of  blue  baize,  as  a  present.  The  last 
was  intended  perhaps  to  show  me  that  he  was  a  truly  great 
chief,  who  had  such  stores  of  white  men's  goods  at  hand  that 
he  could  afford  to  give  presents  of  them.  Masiko  expressed 
delight,  by  his  principal  men,  at  the  return  of  the  captives, 
and  at  the  proposal  of  peace  and  alliance  with  the  Makololo. 

"  Manenko  gave  us  some  manioc  roots  in  the  morning,  and 
had  determined  to  carry  our  baggage  to  her  uncle's,  Kabompo 
or  Shinte.  We  had  heard  a  sample  of  what  she  could  do 
with  her  tongue;  and  as  neither  my  men  nor  myself  had 


198  LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AXD  TRAVELS. 

much  inclination  to  encounter  a  scolding  from  this  black  Mrs. 
Caudle,  we  made  ready  the  packages ;  but  she  came  and  said 
the  men  whom  she  had  ordered  for  the  service  had  not  yet 
come  ;  they  would  arrive  to-morrow.  Being  on  low  and  dis- 
agreeable diet,  I  felt  annoyed  at  this  further  delay,  and 
ordered  the  packages  to  be  put  into  the  canoes  to  proceed  up 
the  river  without  her  servants*;  but  Manenko  was  not;  to  be 
circumvented  in  this  way  ;  she  said  her  uncle  would  be  very 
angry  if  she  did  not  carry  forward  the  tusks  and  goods  of 
Sekeletu,  seized  the  luggage,  and  declared  she  would  carry  it 
in  spite  of  me.  My  men  succumbed  to  this  petticoat  govern- 
ment sooner  than  I  felt  inclined  to  do,  and  left  me  no  power  ; 
and,  being  unwilling  to  encounter  her  tongue,  I  was  moving  off 
to  the  canoes,  when  she  gave  me  a  kind  explanation,  and,  with 
her  hand  on  my  shoulder,  put  on  a  motherly  look,  saying, 
"  Now,  my  little  man,  just  do  as  the  rest  have  done."  My 
feelings  of  annoyance  of  course  vanished,  and  I  went  out  to 
try  to  get  some  meat." 

A  visit  to  Shinte  being  finally  decided  on,  the  party  started 
'  on  the  llth  of  January,  1854. 

"We  had  to  cross,  in  a  canoe,  a  stream  which  flows  past  the 
village  of  Nyamoana.  Manenko's  doctor  waved  some  charms 
over  her,  and  she  took  some  in  her  hand  and  on  her  body 
before  she  ventured  upon  the  water.  One  of  my  men  spoke 
rather  loudly  when  near  the  doctor's  basket  of  medicines. 
The  doctor  reproved  him,  and  always  spoke  in  a  whisper  him- 
self, glancing  back  to  the  basket  as  if  afraid  of  being  heard  by 
something  therein. 

"Manenko  was  accompanied  by  her  husband  and  her  drum- 
mer ;  the  latter  continued  to  thump  most  vigorously  until  a 
heavy,  drizzling  mist  set  in  and  compelled  him  to  desist. 
Her  husband  used  various  incantations  and  vociferations  to 
drive  away  the  rain,  but  down  it  poured  incessantly,  and  on 
our  Amazon  went,  in  the  very  lightest  marching  order,  and  at 
a  pace  that  few  of  the  men  could  keep  up  with.  Being  on 
ox-back,  I  kept  pretty  close  to  our  leader,  and  asked  her  why 
she  did  not  clothe  herself  during  the  rain,  and  learned  that  it 


MANEXKO  ON  THE  MARCH.  201 

is  not  considered  proper  for  a  chief  to  appear  effeminate.  He 
or  she  must  always  wear  the  appearance  of  robust  youth,  and 
bear  vicissitudes  without  wincing.  My  men,  in  admiration 
of  her  pedestrian  powers,  every  now  and  then  remarked, 
'  Manenko  is  a  soldier ;'  and  thoroughly  wet  and  cold,  we 
were  all  glad  when  she  proposed  a  halt  to  prepare  our  night's 
lodging  on  the  banks  of  a  stream. 

"  We  found  that  every  village  had  its  idols  near  it.  This 
is  the  case  all  through  the  country  of  the  Balonda,  so  that 
when  we  came  to  an  idol  in  the  woods,  we  always  knew  that 
we  were  within  a  quarter  of  an  hour  of  human  habitations. 

"One  night  we  were  all  awakened  by  a  terrible  shriek  from 
one  of  Manenko's  ladies.  She  piped  out  so  loud  and  long 
that  we  all  imagined  she  had  been  seized  by  a  lion,  and  my 
men  snatched  up  their  arms,  which  they  always  place  so  as  to 
be  ready  at  a  moment's  notice,  and  ran  to  the  rescue  ;  but  we 
found  the  alarm  had  been  caused  by  one  of  the  oxen  thrust- 
ing his  head  into  her  hut  and  smelling  her :  she  had  put  her 
hand  on  his  cold,  wet  nose,  and  thought  it  was  all  over  with 
her. 

"  On  Sunday  afternoon  messengers  arrived  from  Shinte, 
expressing  his  approbation,  of  the  objects  we  had  in  view  in 
our  journey  through  the  country,  and  that  he  was  glad  of  the 
prospect  of  a  way  being  opened  by  which  white  men  might 
visit  him,  and  allow  him  to  purchase  ornaments  at  pleasure. 

"Our  friends  informed  us  that  Shinte  would  be  highly 
honored  by  the  presence  of  three  white  men  in  his  town  at 
once.  Two  others  had  sent  forward  notice  of  their  approach 
from  another  quarter  (the  west)  ;  could  it  be  Earth  or  Krapf  ? 
How  pleasant  to  meet  with  Europeans  in  such  an  out-of-the- 
way  region !  The  rush  of  thoughts  made  me  almost  forget 
my  fever.  Are  they  of  the  same  color  as  I  am  ?  '  Yes ; 
exactly  so.'  And  have  the  same  hair?  'Is  that  hair?  we 
thought  it  was  a  wig ;  we  never  saw  the  like  before ;  this 
white  man  must  be  of  the  sort  that  lives  in  the  sea.'  Hence- 
forth my  own  men  took  the  hint,  and  always  sounded  my 
praises  as  a  true  specimen  of  the  variety  of  white  men  who 


202  LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

live  in  the  sea.  '  Only  look  at  his  hair ;  it  is  made  quite 
straight  by  the  sea- water !' 

"  On  the  16th,  after  a  short  march,  we  came  to  a  most 
lovely  valley  about  a  mile  and  a  half  wide,  and  stretching 
away  eastward  up  to  a  low  prolongation  of  Monakadzi.  A 
small  stream  meanders  down  the  centre  of  this  pleasant  glen ; 
and  on  a  little  rill,  which  flows  into  it  from  the  western  side, 
stands  the  town  of  Kabompo,  or,  as  he  likes  best  to  be  called, 
Shinto.  (Lat.l2°  37'  35"  S.,  long.  22°  47'  E.)  When  Man- 
enko  thought  the  sun  was  high  enough  for  us  to  make  a  lucky 
entrance,  we  found  the  town  embowered  in  banana  and  other 
tropical  trees  having  great  expansion  of  leaf ;  the  streets  are 
straight,  and  present  a  complete  contrast  to  those  of  the 
Bechuanas,  which  are  all  very  tortuous.  Here,  too,  we  first 
saw  native  huts  with  square  walls  and  round  roofs.  The  two 
native  Portuguese  traders  of  whom  we  had  heard,  had  erected 
a  little  encampment  opposite  the  place  where  ours  was  to  be 
made. 

"  The  Balonda  are  generally  very  dark  in  color,  but  sever- 
al are  to  be  seen  of  a  lighter  hue ;  many  of  the  slaves  who 
have  been  exported  to  Brazil  have  gone  from  this  region ; 
but  while  they  have  a  general  similarity  to  the  typical  negro, 
I  never  could,  from  my  own  observation,  think  that  our 
ideal  negro,  as  seen  in  tobacconists'  shops,  is  the  true  type. 

"  On  the  17th,  we  were  honored  with  a  grand  reception  by 
Shinte  about  eleven  o'clock.  Sambanza  claimed  the  honor 
of  presenting  us,  Manenko  being  slightly  indisposed.  The 
native  Portuguese  and  Mambari  went  fully  armed  with  guns, 
in  order  to  give  Shinte  a  salute  ;  their  drummer  and  trumpet- 
er making  all  the  noise  that  very  old  instruments  would  pro- 
duce. The  kotla,  or  place  of  audience,  was  about  a  hundred 
yards  square,  and  two  graceful  specimens  of  a  species  of  ban- 
ian stood  near  one  end  ;  under  one  of  these  sat  Shinte,  on  a 
sort  of  throne  covered  with  a  leopard's  skin.  He  had  on  a 
checked  jacket,  and  a  kilt  of  scarlet  baize  edged  with  green  ; 
many  strings  of  large  beads  hung  from  his  neck,  and  his 
limbs  were  covered  with  iron  and  copper  armlets  and  brace- 


v 

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RECEPTION"  BY  SHINTE.  205 

lets ;  on  his  head  he  wore  a  helmet  made  of  beads  woven  neat- 
ly together,  and  crowned  with  a  great  bunch  of  goose-feathers. 
Close  to  him  sat  three  lads  with  large  sheaves  of  arrows  over 
their  shoulders, 

"When  we  entered  the  kotla,  the  whole  of  Manenko's 
party  sainted  Shinte  by  clapping  their  hands,  and  Sambanza 
did  obeisance  by  rubbing  his  chest  and  arms  with  ashes. 
One  of  the  trees  being  unoccupied,  I  retreated  to  it  for  the 
ehade,  and  my  whole  party  did  the  same.  We  were  now 
about  forty  yards  from  the  chief,  and  could  see  the  whole 
ceremony. 

"  The  different  sections  of  the  tribe  came  forward  in  the 
same  way  that  we  did,  the  head  man  of  each  making  obeisance 
with  ashes  which  he  carried  with  him  for  the  purpose  ;  then 
came  the  soldiers,  all  armed  to  the  teeth,  running  and  shout- 
ing toward  us,  with  their  swords  drawn,  and  their  faces  screw- 
ed up  so  as  to  appear  as  savage  as  possible,  for  the  purpose, 
I  thought,  of  trying  whether  they  could  not  make  us  take  to 
our  heels.  As  we  did  not,  they  turned  round  toward  Shinte 
and  saluted  him,  then  retired.  When  all  had  come  and  were 
seated,  then  began  the  curious  capering  usually  seen  in  pichos. 
A  man  starts  up,  and  imitates  the  most  approved  attitudes 
observed  in  actual  fight,  as  throwing  one  javelin,  receiving 
another  on  the  shield,  springing  to  one  side  to  avoid  a  third, 
running  backward  or  forward,  leaping,  etc. 

"  This  over,  Sambanza  and  the  spokesman  of  Nyamoana 
stalked  backward  and  forward  in  front  of  Shinte,  and  gave 
forth,  in  a  loud  voice,  all  they  had  been  able  to  learn,  either 
from  myself  or  people,  of  my  past  history  and  connection 
with  the  Makololo ;  the  return  of  the  captives ;  the  wish  to 
open  the  country  to  trade ;  the  Bible  as  a  word  from  heaven ; 
the  white  man's  desire  for  the  tribes  to  live  in  peace :  he 
ought  to  have  taught  the  Makololo  that  first,  for  the  Balonda 
never  attacked  them,  yet  they  had  assailed  the  Balonda :  per- 
haps he  is  fibbing,  perhaps  not ;  they  rather  thought  he  was ; 
but  as  the  Balonda  had  good  hearts,  and  Shinte  had  never 
done  harm  to  any  one,  he  had  better  receive  the  white  man 


206  LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

•well,  and  send  him  on  his  way.  Sambanza  was  gayly  attired, 
and,  besides  a  profusion  of  beads,  had  a  cloth  so  long  tliat  a 
boy  carried  it  after  him  as  a  train. 

"Behind  Shinte  sat  about  a  hundred  women,  clothed  in  their 
best,  which  happened  to  be  a  profusion  of  red  baize.  The 
chief  wife  of  Shinte,  one  of  the  Matebele  or  Zulus,  sat  in 
front  with  a  curious  red  cap  on  her  head.  During  the  inter- 
vals between  the  speeches,  these  ladies  burst  forth  into  a  sort 
of  plaintive  ditty ;  but  it  was  impossible  for  any  of  us  to 
catch  whether  it  was  in  praise  of  the  speaker,  of  Shinte,  or 
of  themselves.  This  was  the  first  time  I  had  ever  seen  females 
present  in  a  public  assembly.  In  the  south  the  women  are 
not  permitted  to  enter  the  kotla ;  and  even  when  invited  to 
come  to  a  religious  service  there,  would  not  enter  until  order- 
ed to  do  so  by  the  chief ;  but  here  they  expressed  approbation 
by  clapping  their  hands,  and  laughing  to  different  speakers ; 
and  Shinte  frequently  turned  round  and  spoke  to  them. 

"  A  party  of  musicians,  consisting  of  three  drummers  and 
four  performers  on  the  piano,  went  round  the  kotla  several 
times  regaling  us  with  their  music.  Their  drums  are  neatly 
carved  from  the  trunk  of  a  tree ;  the  ends  are  covered  with 
the  skin  of  an  antelope. 

"  The  piano,  named  "  marimba,"  consists  of  two  bars  of 
wood  placed  side  by  side,  here  quite  straight,  but,  farther 
north,  bent  round  so  as  to  resemble  half  the  tire  of  a  car- 
riage-wheel ;  across  these  are  placed  about  fifteen  wooden 
keys,  each  of  which  is  two  or  three  inches  broad,  and  fifteen 
or  eighteen  inches  long ;  their  thickness  is  regulated  accord- 
ing to  the  deepness  of  the  note  required :  each  ot  the  keys 
has  a  calabash  beneath  it ;  from  the  upper  part  of  each  a  por- 
tion is  cut  off  to  enable  them  to  embrace  the  bars,  and  form 
hollow  sounding-boards  to  the  keys,  which  also  are  of  differ- 
ent sizes,  according  to  the  note  required ;  and  little  drum- 
sticks elicit  the  music.  Rapidity  of  execution  seems  much 
admired  among  them,  and  the  music  is  pleasant  to  the  ear. 
In  Angola  the  Portuguese  use  the  marimba  in  their  dances. 

"  When  nine  speakers  had  concluded  their  orations,  Shinte 


ENTERTAINING  THE  COURT  BEAUTIES.  207 

stood  up,  and  so  did  all  the  people.  He  had  maintained  true 
African  dignity  of  manner  all  the  while,  but  my  people 
remarked  that  he  scarcely  ever  took  his  eyes  off  me  for  a 
moment.  About  a  thousand  people  were  present,  according 
to  my  calculation,  and  three  hundred  soldiers.  The  sun  had 
now  become  hot ;  and  the  scene  ended  by  the  Mambari  dis- 
charging their  guns." 

Livingstone  afterwards  had  the  honor  of  exhibiting  the  pic- 
tures of  the  magic  lantern,  before  Shinte  and  his  court 
beauties. 

"  The  first  picture  exhibited  was  Abraham  about  to  slaugh- 
ter his  son  Isaac ;  it  was  shown  as  large  as  life,  and  the  uplift- 
ed knife  was  in  the  act  of  striking  the  lad ;  the  Balonda  men 
remarked  that  the  picture  was  much  more  like  a  god  than  the 
things  of  wood  or  clay  they  worshiped.  I  explained  that 
this  man  was  the  first  of  a  race  to  whom  God  had  given 
the  Bible  we  now  held,  and  that  among  his  children  our 
Saviour  appeared.  The  ladies  listened  with  silent  awe ;  but, 
when  I  moved  the  slide,  the  uplifted  dagger  moving  toward 
them,  they  thought  it  was  to  be  sheathed  in  their  bodies 
instead  of  Isaac's.  "  Mother !  mother  !"  all  shouted  at  once 
and  off  they  rushed  helter-skelter,  tumbling  pell-mell  over 
each  other,  and  over  the  little  idol-huts  and  tobacco-bushes  : 
we  could  not  get  one  of  them  back  again.  Shinte,  however, 
sat  bravely  through  the  whole,  and  afterward  examined  the 
instrument  with  interest. 

u  We  several  times  saw  the  woman  who  occupies  the  office 
of  drawer  of  water  for  Shinte  ;  she  rings  a  bell  as  she  passes 
along  to  give  warning  to  all  to  keep  out  of  her  way  ;  it  would 
be  a  grave  offense  for  any  one  to  come  near  her,  and  exercise 
an  evil  influence  by  his  presence  on  the  drink  of  the  chief.'.' 

Livingstone  remained  at  Kabompo  till  the  26th  of  Jan- 
uary, and  although  Shinte  was  at  times  troublesome  they 
parted  on  good  terms ;  and  as  a  proof  of  Shinte's  friendship 
for  Livingstone,  he  hung  around  his  neck  a  string  of  beads 
and  a  very  valuable  shell. 

"At  our  last  interview  old  Shinte  pointed  out  our  principal 


208  LIVINGSTONE'S  LtfE  AND  TRAVELS. 

guide,  Intemese,  a  man  about  fifty,  who  was,  lie  said,  ordered 
to  remain  by  us  till  we  should  reach  the  sea ;  that  I  had  now 
left  Sekeletu  far  behind,  and  must  henceforth  look  to  Shinto 
alone  for  aid,  and  that  it  would  always  be  most  cheerfully 
rendered.  This  was  only  a  polite  way  of  expressing  his  wish- 
es for  my  success.  It  was  the  good  words  only  of  the  guides 
which  were  to  aid  me  from  the  next  chief,  Katema,  on  to  the 
sea  ;  they  were  to  turn  back  on  reaching  him ;  but  he  gave  a 
good  supply  of  food  for  the  journey  before  us,  and,  after 
mentioning  as  a  reason  for  letting  us  go  even  now,  that  no 
one  could  say  we  had  been  driven  away  from  the  town,  since 
we  had  been  several  days  with  him,  he  gave  a  most  hearty 
salutation,  and  we  parted  with  the  wish  that  God  might  bless 
him." 


CHAPTER  XII. 

LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TKAYELS. 
(JOURNEY  FKOM  SIIINTE  TO  CASSANGE.) 

THE  party  left  Sliinte  on  the  26th  of  January,  accompanied 
by  eight  of  Shinte's  men  as  porters,  and  proceeded  in  a 
northerly  direction  down  a  lovely  valley,  and  passed  the 
night  at  a  village  of  Balorida.  In  the  morning  there  was  a 
fine  range  of  green  hills  to  be  seen,  which  abounded  in  iron 
ore,  and  were  said  to  be  thickly  inhabited  by  iron-workers. 

The  chief  guide,  Intemese,  sent  orders  to  the  villages  on 
the  route  to  bring  food  for  'Shinte's'  friends,  and  it  was 
furnished  in  abundance. 

"The  Balonda  are  very  punctilious  in  their  manners  to 
each  other.  Each  hut  has  it  own  fire,  and  when  it  goes  out 
they  make  it  afresh  for  themselves  rather  than  take  it  from  a 
neighbor.  I  believe  much  of  this  arises  from  superstitious 
fears.  In  the  deep,  dark  forests  near  each  village,  as  already 
mentioned,  you  see  idols  intended  to  represent  the  human 
head,  or  a  lion,  or  miniature  huts  with  little  mounds  of  earth 
in  them.  But  in  the  darker  recesses  we  meet  with  human 
faces  cut  in  the  bark  of  trees,  the  outlines  of  which,  with  the 
beards,  closely  resemble  those  seen  on  Egyptian  monuments. 
Frequent  cuts  are  made  on  the  trees  along  all  the  paths,  and 
offerings  of  small  pieces  of  manioc  roots  or  ears  of  maize  are 
placed  on  branches.  There  are  also  to  be  seen  every  few 
miles  heaps  of  sticks,  which  are  treated  in  cairn  fashion,  by 
every  one  throwing  a  small  branch  to  the  heap  in  passing ;  or 
a  few  sticks  are  placed  on  the  path,  and  each  passer-by  turns 

209 


210  LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

from  his  course,  and  forms  a  sudden  bend  in  the  road  to  one 
side.  It  seems  as  if  their  minds  were  ever  in  doubt  and 
dread  in  these  gloomy  recesses  of  the  forest,  and  that  they 
were  striving  to  propitiate,  by  their  offerings,  some  superior 
beings  residing  there. 

"  The  dress  of  the  Balonda  men  consists  of  the  softened 
skins  of  small  ;mimnls,  as  the  jackal  or  wild  cat,  hung  before 
and  behind  from  a  girdle  round  the  loins.  The  ,dress  of  the 
women  is  of  a  nondescript  character ;  but  they  were  not  immod- 
est. They  stood  before  us  as  perfectly  unconscious  of  any 
indecorum  as  we  would  be  with  our  clothes  on.  But,  while 
ignorant  of  their  own  deficiency,  they  could  not  maintain 
their  gravity  at  the  sight  of  the  nudity  of  my  men  behind. 
Much  to  the  annoyance  of  my  companions,  the  young  girls 
laughed  outright  whenever  their  backs  were  turned  to  them. 

"  The  town  of  the  Balonda  chief  Cazembe,  was  pointed  out 
to  us  as  lying  to  the  N.  E.  and  by  E.  from  the  town  of 
Shinto,  and  great  numbers  of  people  in  this  quarter  have 
gone  thither  for  the  purpose  of  purchasing  copper  anklets, 
made  at  Cazembe's,  and  report  the  distance  to  be  about  five 
days'  journey.  I  made  inquiries  ol  some  of  the  oldest  inhab- 
itants of  the  villages  at  which  we  were  staying,  respecting  the 
visit  of  Pereira  and  Lacerda  to  that  town.  An  old  gray- 
headed  man  replied  that  they  had  often  heard  of  white  men 
before,  but  never  had  seen  one,  and  added  that  one  had  come 
to  Cazembe  when  our  informant  was  young,  and  returned 
again  without  entering  this  part  of  the  country.  Some  of 
the  young  men  remarked  that  they  were  the  tme  ancients 
for  they  had  now  seen  more  wonderful  things  than  their 
forefathers. 

"  In  the  midst  of  a  heavy  rain,  which  continued  all  the 
morning,  Intemese  sent  to  say  he  wras  laid  up  with  pains  in 
the  stomach,  and  must  not  be  disturbed ;  but  when  it  cleared 
up,  about  eleven,  I  saw  our  friend  walking  off  to  a  village, 
and  talking  with  a  very  loud  voice.  On  reproaching  him 
for  telling  an  untruth,  he  turned  it  off  with  a  laugh  by  say- 
ing he  really  had  a  complaint  in  his  stomach,  which  I  might 


CROSSING  THE  LEEBA.  211 

cure  by  slaughtering  one  of  the  oxen  and  allowing  him  to 
eat  beef. 

"  As  the  people  on  the  banks  of  the  Leeba  were  the  last 
of  Shinte's  tribe  over  which  Intemese  had  power,  he  was 
naturally  anxious  to  remain  as  long  as  possible.  He  was  not 
idle,  but  made  a  large  wooden  mortar  and  pestle  for  his  wife 
during  our  journey.  He  also  carved  many  wooden  spoons 
and  a  bowl ;  then  commenced  a  basket ;  but  as  what  he  con- 
sidered good  living  was  anything  but  agreeable  to  us,  who 
had  been  accustomed  to  milk  and  maize,  we  went  forward  on 
the  2d  of  February  without  him. 

"  He  soon  followed,  but  left  our  pontoon,  saying  it  would 
be  brought  by  the  head  man  of  the  village.  This  was  a  great 
loss,  as  we  afterward  found  ;  it  remained  at  this  village  more 
than  a  year,  and  when  we  returned  a  mouse  had  eaten  a  hole 
in  it." 

It  took  the  travelers  four  hours  to  cross  the  Leeba ;  beyond 
it,  was  a  level  twenty  miles  broad  covered  with  water,  ankle 
deep  in  the  shallowest  places.  The  continual  splashing  of 
the  oxen  kept  the  feet  of  the  riders  constantly  wet. 

The  people  of  the  villages  which  they  now  came  to,  viewed 
the  Makololo  as  great  savages ;  one  of  the  chiefs,  Soana  Mo- 
lopo,  the  elder  brother  of  Katema,  after  hearing  some  account 
of  the  expedition,  said : — 

"  The  journey  of  the  white  man  is  very  proper,  but  Shinte 
has  disturbed  us  by  showing  the  path  to  the  Makololo  who 
accompany  him.  He  ought  to  have  taken  them  through  the 
country  without  showing  them  the  towns.  We  are  afraid  of 
the  Makololo." 

Sometimes  the  caravan  would  come  suddenly  upon  a  whole 
village  in  a  forest,  enjoying  their  mid-day  nap,  and  its  appear- 
ance would  be  so  terrifying  that  some  of  the  women  would 
nearly  go  into  convulsions  from  fear.  When  they  saw  and 
heard  Intemese,  their  terror  would  subside. 

Being  caught  by  rain  on  one  occasion,  Livingstone  stopped 
at  the  house  of  Mozinkwa,  who  had  a  tine  garden,  wrell  hedged 
in,  in  which  his  wife  cultivated  cotton,  sweet  potatoes,  etc. 


212  LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

"  Several  trees  were  planted  in  the  middle  of  the  yard,  and 
in  the  deep  shade  they  gave  stood  the  huts  of  his  fine  family. 
His  children,  all  by  one  mother,  very  black,  but  comely  to 
view,  were  the  finest  negro  family  I  ever  saw.  We  were 
much  pleased  with  the  frank  friendship  and  liberality  of  this 
man  and  his  wife.  She  asked  rue  to  bring  her  a  cloth  from 
the  white  man's  country  ;  but  when  we  returned,  poor  Mo- 
zinkwa's  wife  was  in  her  grave,  and  he,  as  is  the  custom,  had 
abandoned  trees,  garden,  and  huts  to  ruin.  They  cannot  live 
on  a  spot  where  a  favorite  wife  has  died,  probably  because 
unable  to  bear  the  remembrance  of  the  happy  times  they  have 
spent  there,  or  afraid  to  remain  in  a  spot  where  death  has 
once  visited  the  establishment.  If  ever  the  place  is  revisited, 
it  is  to  pray  to  her,  or  make  some  oifering.  This  feeling  ren- 
ders any  permanent  village  in  the  country  impossible." 

After  leaving  Mozinkwa,  and  while  crossing  a  stream  about 
forty  yards  wide  in  canoes,  they  were  joined  by  Shakatwala, 
a  messenger  from  Katema,  in  whose  country  they  now  were. 

"  Shakatwala  informed  us  that  Katema  had  not  received 
precise  information  about  us,  but  if  we  were  peaceably  dis- 
posed, as  he  loved  strangers,  we  were  to  come  to  his  town. 
We  proceeded  forthwith,  but  were  turned  aside,  by  the  strat- 
egy of  our  friend  Intemese,  to  the  village  of  Quendende,  the 
father-in-law  of  Katema.  He  had  just  come  from  attending 
the  funeral  of  one  of  his  people,  and  I  found  that  the  great 
amount  of  drum-beating  which  takes  place  on  these  occasions, 
was  with  the  idea  that  the  Barimo,  or  spirits  could  be  drummed 
to  sleep.  There  is  a  drum  in  every  village,  and  we  often 
hear  it  going  from  sunrise  to  sunset.  They  seem  to  look 
upon  the  departed  as  vindictive  beings,  and,  I  suspect,  are 
more  influenced  by  fear  than  by  love. 

"  In  beginning  to  speak  on  religious  subjects  with  those 
who  have  never  heard  of  Christianity,  the  great  fact  of  the 
Son  of  God  having  come  down  from  heaven  to  die  for  us,  is 
the  prominent  theme.  No  fact  more  striking  can  be  men- 
tioned. '  He  actually  came  to  men.  He  himself  told  us  about 
his  Father,  and  the  dwelling-place  whither  he  has  gone  We 


INTERVIEW  WITH  THE  GREAT  KATEMA.  213 

have  his  words  in  this  book,  and  he  really  endured  punish- 
ment  in  our  stead  from  pure  love,'  etc.  If  this  fails  to  interest 
them,  nothing  else  will  succeed. 

"  We  left  Quendende's  village  in  company  with  Quendende 
himself,  and  the  principal  ernbassador  of  Matiamvo,  .and  after 
two  or  three  miles'  march,  came  to  the  ford  of  the  Lotembwa, 
which  flows  southward.  A  canoe  was  waiting  to  ferry  us 
over,  but  it  was  very  tedious  work ;  for  the  whole  valley  was 
flooded,  and  we  were  obliged  to  paddle  more  than  half  a  mile 
to  get  free  of  the  water.  A  fire  was  lit  to  warm  old  Quen- 
dende, and  enable  him  to  dry  his  tobacco-leaves.  The  leaves 
are  taken  from  the  plant,  and  spread  close  to  the  fire  until  they 
are  quite  dry  and  crisp ;  they  are  then  put  into  a  snuff-box, 
which,  with  a  little  pestle,  serves  the  purpose  of  a  mill  to 
grind  them  into  powder ;  it  is  then  used  as  snuff.  As  we  sat 
by  the  fire,  the  embassadors  communicated  their  thoughts 
freely  respecting  the  customs  of  their  race.  When  a  chief 
dies,  a  number  of  servants  are  slaughtered  with  him  to  form 
his  company  in  the  other  world. 

"  After  crossing  the  River  Lotembwa,  we  traveled  about 
eight  miles,  and  came  to  Katema's  straggling  town.  We 
were  led  about  half  a  mile  from  the  houses,  that  we  might 
make  for  ourselves  the  best  lodging  we  could  of  the  trees  and 
grass,  while  Intemese  was  taken  to  Katema  to  undergo  the 
usual  process  of  pumping  as  to  our  past  conduct  and  profess- 
ions. Katema  soon  afterward  sent  a  handsome  present  of 
food. 

"  Next  morning  we  had  a  formal  presentation,  and  found 
Katema  seated  on  a  sort  of  throne,  with  about  three  hundred 
men  on  the  ground  around,  and  thirty  women,  who  were 
said  to  be  his  wives,  close  behind  him.  Intemese  gave  our 
history,  and  Katema  placed  sixteen  large  baskets  of  meal 
before  us,  half  a  dozen  fowls,  and  a  dozen  eggs,  and  expressed 
regret  that  we  had  slept  hungry ;  he  did  not  like  any  stranger 
to  suffer  want  in  his  town ;  and  added, 

" '  Go  home  and  cook  and  eat,  and  you  will  then  be  in  a  fit 
state  to  speak  to  me  at  an  audience  I  will  give  you  to-mor- 


21i  LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

row.'  Katema  seemed  in  good  spirits,  laughing  heartily 
several  times.  This  is  a  good  sign,  for  a  man  who  shakes 
his  sides  with  mirth  is  seldom  difficult  to  deal  with.  When 
\vc  rose  to  take  leave  all  rose  with  us. 

"  Returning  next  morning,  Katema  addressed  me  thus : — 

" '  I  am  the  great  Moene  (lord)  Katema,  the  fellow  of 
Matiamvo.  There  is  no  one  in  the  country  equal  to 
Matiamvo  and  me.  I  have  always  lived  here,  and  my  fore- 
fathers too.  There  is  the  house  in  which  my  father  lived. 
You  found  no  human  skulls  near  the  place  where  you 
encamped.  I  never  killed  any  of  the  traders ;  they  all  come 
to  me.  I  am  the  great  Moene  Katema,  of  whom  you  have 
heard.'  He  looked  as  if  he  had  fallen  asleep  tipsy,  and 
dreamed  of  his  greatness. 

"  On  explaining  my  objects  to  him,  he  promptly  pointed 
out  three  men  who  would  be  our  guides,  and  explained  that 
the  northwest  path  was  the  most  direct,  and  that  by  which 
all  traders  came,  but  that  the  water  at  present  standing  on 
the  plains  would  reach  up  to  the  loins ;  he  would  therefore 
send  us  by  a  more  northerly  route,  which  no  trader  had  yet 
traversed.  This  was  more  suited  to  our  wishes,  for  we  never 
found  a  path  safe  that  had  been  trodden  by  slave-traders. 

"  One  of  the  affairs  which  had  been  intrusted  by  Shinte  to 
Intemese,  was  the  rescue  of  a  wife  who  had  eloped  with  a 
young  man  belonging  to  Katema.  As  this  was  the  only  case 
I  have  met  with  in  the  interior  in  which  a  fugitive  was  sent 
back  to  a  chief  against  his  own  will,  I  am  anxious  to  mention 
it.  On  Intemese,  claiming  her  as  his  master's  wife,  she  pro- 
tested loudly  against  it,  saying  '  she  knew  she  was  not  going 
back  to  be  a  wife  again ;  she  was  going  back  to  be  sold  to  the 
Mambari.'  My  men  formed  many  friendships  with  the 
people  of  Katema,  and  some  of  the  poorer  classes  aaid  in 
confidence. 

" '  We  wish  our  children  could  go  back  with  you  to  the 
Makololo  country  ;  here  we  are  in  danger  of  being  sold.' 

"  An  old  man,  who  said  he  had  been  born  about  the  same 
time  as  the  late  Matiamvo,  and  had  been  his  constant  com- 


ORIGIN  OF  LAKE  DILOLO.  215 

panion  through  life,  visited  us ;  and  as  I  was  sitting  on  some 
grass  in  front  of  the  little  gipsy  tent  mending  my  camp-stool, 
I  invited  him  to  take  a  seat  on  the  grass  beside  me.  This 
was  peremptorily  refused ;  ( he  had  never  sat  on  the  ground 
during  the  late  chiefs  reign,  and  he  was  not  going  to  degrade 
himself  now.'  One  of  my  men  handed  him  a  log  of  wood 
taken  from  the  fire,  and  helped  him  out  of  the  difficulty. 

"  On  Sunday,  the  19th,  both  I  and  several  of  our  party  were 
seized  with  fever,  and  I  could  do  nothing  but  toss  about  in 
my  little  tent,  with  the  thermometer  above  90°,  though  this 
was  the  beginning  of  winter,  and  my  men  made  as  much 
shade  as  possible  by  planting  branches  of  trees  all  round  and 
over  it.  We  have,  for  the  first  time  in  my  experience  in 
Africa,  had  a  cold  wind  from  the  north.  On  the  20th  we 
were  glad  to  get  away,  and  traveled  several  miles  to  Lake 
Dilolo. 

"  When  asked  the  meaning  of  the  name  Dilolo,  Shakatwala 
gave  the  following  account  of  the  formation  of  the  lake.  A 
female  chief,  called  JVIonenga,  came  one  evening  to  the  vil- 
lage of  Mosogo,  a  man  who  lived  in  the  vicinity,  but  who 
had  gone  to  hunt  with  his  dogs.  She  asked  for  a  supply  of 
food,  and  Mosogo's  wife  gave  her  a  sufficient  quantity.  Pro- 
ceeding to  another  village  standing  on  the  spot  now  occupied 
by  the  water,  she  preferred  the  same  demand,  and  was  not 
only  refused,  but,  when  she  uttered  a  threat  for  their  nig- 
gardliness, was  taunted  with  the  question,  '  "What  could  she 
do  though  she  were  thus  treated  ? '  In  order  to  show  what 
she  could  do,  she  began  a  song,  in  slow  time,  and  uttered  her 
own  name,  Monenga-woo.  As  she  prolonged  the  last  note, 
the  village,  people,  fowls,  and  dogs  sank  into  the  space  now 
called  Dilolo.  Monenga  was  put  to  death." 

Beyond  Dilolo  is  a  large  watery  flat  about  twenty  miles 
wide.  On  the  24th  of  February  Livingstone  reached 
unflooded  lands  beyond  the  plain,  and  discovered  to  his  sur- 
prise that  the  plain  they  had  just  crossed  was  the  watershed 
between  the  northern  and  southern  rivers.  The  rivers  here- 
tofore had  all  run  southerly,  now  they  all  ran  northerly. 


216  LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  villages  were  friendly,  and  led  the 
travelers  northwesterly  into  the  first  deep  valley  they  had 
Been  since  leaving  Kolobeng.  The  guides  sent  by  Katema 
here  started  on  their  return  home. 

On  reaching  the  village  of  a  chief  named  Kabinje  in  the 
evening,  he  sent  Livingstone  a  present  of  tobacco  and 

maize. 

"  When  we  wished  to  move  on,  Kabinje  refused  a  guide 
to  the  next  village  because  he  was  at  war  with  it ;  but,  after 
much  persuasion,  he  consented,  provided  that  the  guide 
should  be  allowed  to  return  as  soon  as  he  came  in  sight  of  the 
enemy's  village.  This  we  felt  to  be  a  misfortune,  as  the  peo- 
ple all  suspect  a  man  who  comes  telling  his  own  tale ;  but 
there  being  no  help  for  it,  we  went  on,  and  found  the  head 
man  of  a  village  on  the  rivulet  Kalomba,  called  Kangenke,  a 
very  different  man  from  what  his  enemy  represented.  We 
found,  too,  that  the  idea  of  buying  and  selling  took  the 
place  of  giving  for  friendship.  As  I  had  nothing  with 
which  to  purchase  food  except  a  parcel  of  beads  which 
were  preserved  for  worse  times,  I  began  to  fear  that  we 
should  be  compelled  to  suffer  more  from  hunger  than  we  had 
done.  The  people  demanded  gunpowder  for  everything;  so 
money  was  of  no  value  whatever.  Gold  is  quite  unknown ; 
it  is  thought  to  be  brass ;  trade  is  carried  on  by  barter  alone. 

"  Kangenke  promptly  furnished  guides  in  the  morning ;  so 
we  went  briskly  on  a  short  distance,  and  came  to  a  part  of 
the  Kasye,  Kasai,  or  Loke,  where  he  had  appointed  two 
canoes  to  convey  us  across.  This  is  a  most  beautiful  river, 
and  very  much  like  the  Clyde  in  Scotland.  The  slope  of 
the  valley  down  to  the  stream  is  about  five  hundred  yards, 
and  finely  wooded.  It  is  perhaps,  one  hundred  yards  broad, 
and  was  winding  slowly  from  side  to  side  in  the  beautiful 
green  glen,  in  a  course  to  the  north  and  northeast.  In  both 
the  directions  from  which  it  came  and  to  which  it  went,  it 
seemed  to  be  alternately  embowered  in  sylvan  vegetation,  or 
rich  meadows  covered  with  tall  grass.  The  men  pointed  out 
its  course,  and  said : — 


"A  MAN,  A  TUSK,  OB  AN  OX."  217 

"'Though  you  sail  along  it  for  months,  you  will  turn 
without  seeing  the  end  of  it.' " 

While  at  the  ford  of  the  Kasai  a  knife  was  purposely 
dropped  by  one  of  the  natives,  and  found  by  one  of  Living- 
stone's young  men.  The  owner  charged  that  it  was  stolen 
from  him,  and  would  not  receive  it  back  unless  accompanied 
by  a  heavy  fine.  The  lad  offered  beads,  but  they  were 
refused  with  scorn ;  and  he  was  obliged  to  give  a  costly  shell 
which  he  wore  as  an  ornament  around  his  neck. 

"  I  felt  annoyed  at  the  imposition,  but  the  order  we 
invariably  followed  in  crossing  a  river,  forced  me  to  submit. 
The  head  of  the  party  remained  to  be  ferried  over  last ;  so  if 
I  had  not  come  to  terms,  I  would  have  been,  as  I  always  was 
in  crossing  rivers  which  we  could  not  swim,  completely  in  the 
power  of  the  enemy." 

On  the  29th  the  travelers  approached  the  village  of 
Katende.  Here  one  of  the  guides  caught  a  mole  and  two 
mice  for  his  supper,  and  no  other  animals  were  to  be  seen. 

"  Katende  sent  for  me  on  the  day  following  our  arrival, 
and,  being  quite  willing  to  visit  him,  I  walked,  for  this 
purpose,  about  three  miles  from  our  encampment.  When 
we  approached  the  village  we  were  desired  to  enter  a  hut, 
and,  as  it  was  raining  at  the  time,  we  did  so.  After  a  long 
time  spent  in  giving  arid  receiving  messages  from  the  great 
man,  we  were  told  that  he  wanted  either  a  man,  a  tusk,  beads, 
copper  rings,  or  a  shell,  as  payment  for  leave  to  pass  through 
his  country.  No  one,  we  were  assured,  was  allowed  that 
liberty,  or  even  to  behold  him,  without  something  of  the 
sort  being  presented.  Having  humbly  explained  our  cir- 
cumstances, and  that  he  could  not  expect  to  '  catch  a  humble 
cow  by  the  horns,'  we  were  told  to  go  home,  and  he  would 
speak  again  to  us  next  day." 

The  next  day  Livingstone  sent  Katende,  as  a  present,  an 
old  shirt,  which  was  accepted,  and  guides  and  provisions 
were  promised.  But  after  waiting  two  days  in  a  heavy  rain, 
the  travelers  proceeded. 

"  Passing  onward  without  seeing  Katende,  we  crossed  a 


218  LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

small  rivulet,  by  which  we  had  encamped,  and  after  two 
hours  came  to  another,  the  Totelo,  which  was  somewhat  larger, 
and  had  a  bridge  over  it.  At  the  farther  end  of  this  structure 
stood  a  negro,  who  demanded  fees.  He  said  the  bridge  was 
his ;  the  path  his ;  the  guides  were  his  children ;  and  if  we 
did  not  pay  him  he  would  prevent  farther  progress.  This 
piece  of  civilization  I  was  not  prepared  to  meet,  and  stood  a 
few  seconds  looking  at  our  bold  toll-keeper,  when  one  of 
my  men  took  off  three  copper  bracelets,  which  paid  for  the 
whole  party.  The  negro  was  a  better  man  than  he  at  first 
seemed,  for  he  immediately  went  to  his  garden  and  brought 
us  some  leaves  of  tobacco  as  a  present. 

"In  the  afternoon  we  came  to  another  stream,  with  a 
bridge  over  it.  The  men  had  to  swim  off  to  each  end  of  the 
bridge,  and  when  on  it  were  breast  deep ;  some  preferred 
holding  on  by  the  tails  of  the  oxen,  the  whole  way  across. 
I  intended  to  do  this  too ;  but,  riding  to  the  deep  part,  before 
I  could  dismount  and5  seize  the  helm  the  ox  dashed  off  with 
his  companions,  and  his  body  sank  so  deep  -that  I  failed  in 
my  attempt  even  to  catch  the  blanket  belt,  and  if  I  pulled 
the  bridle  the  ox  seemed  as  if  he  would  come  backward  upon 
me,  so  I  struck  out  for  the  opposite  bank  alone.  My  poor 
fellows  were  dreadfully  alarmed  when  they  saw  me  parted 
from  the  cattle,  and  about  twenty  of  them  made  a  simulta- 
neous rush  into  the  water  for  my  rescue,  and  just  as  I  reached 
the  opposite  bank  one  seized  my  arm,  and  another  threw  his 
around  my  body. 

"Some  had  leaped  off  the  bridge,  and  allowed  their  cloaks 
to  float  down  stream.  Part  of  my  goods,  abandoned  in  the 
hurry,  were  brought  up  from  the  bottom  after  I  was  safe. 
Great  was  the  pleasure  expressed  when  they  found  that  I 
could  swim,  like  themselves,  without  a  tail." 

Having  reached  the  village  of  Njambi,  one  of  the  chiefs  of 
the  Chiboque,  an  ox  was  killed,  and  some  of  it  sent  as  a 
present  to  Njambi.  He  returned  thanks,  and  promised  to 
send  food. 

Next  morning  he  sent  some  meal,  and  demanded  either  a 


TROUBLE  WITH  THE  CHIBOQUE.  219 

man,  an  ox,  a  gun,  powder,  cloth,  or  a  shell,  and  threatened 
to  prevent  their  further  progress  if  he  was  refused. 

"  About  midday,  Njambi  collected  all  his  people,  and  sur- 
rounded our  encampment.  Their  object  was  evidently  to 
plunder  us  of  everything.  My  men  seized  their  javelins,  and 
stood  on  the  defensive,  while  the  Chiboque  had  drawn  their 
swords,  and  brandished  them  with  great  fury.  Some  even 
pointed  their  guns  at  me,  and  nodded  to  each  other,  as  much 
as  to  say, 

"  '  This  is  the  way  we  shall  do  with  him.' 

"  I  sat  on  my  carnp-stool,  with  my  double-barreled  gun 
across  my  knees,  and  invited  the  chief  to  be  seated  also.  When 
he  and  his  counselors  had  sat  down  on  the  ground  in  front 
of  me,  I  asked  what  crime  we  had  committed  that  he  had 
come  armed  in  that  way.  He  replied  that  one  of  my  men, 
Pitsane,  while  sitting  at  the  fire  that  morning,  had,  in  spit- 
ting, allowed  a  small  quantity  of  the  saliva  to  fall  on  the  leg 
of  one  of  his  men,  and  this  '  guilt '  he  wanted  to  be  settled 
by  the  fine  of  a  man,  ox,  or  gun.  Pitsarie  admitted  the  fact 
of  a  little  saliva  having  fallen  on  the  Chiboque,  and  in  proof 
of  its  being  a  pure  accident,  mentioned  that  he  had  given  the 
man  a  piece  of  meat,  by  way  of  making  friends,  just  before 
it  happened,  and  wiped  it  off  with  his  hand  as  soon  as  it  fell. 

"  In  reference  to  a  man  being  given,  I  declared  that  we 
were  all  ready  to  die,  rather  than  give  up  one  of  our  number 
to  be  a  slave  ;  that  my  men  might  as  well  give  me  as  I  give 
one  of  them,  for  we  were  all  free  men. 

" '  Then  you  can  give  the  gun  with  which  the  ox  was 
shot.' 

"As  we  heard  some  of  his  people  remarking  even  now 
that  we  had  only  '  five  guns,'  we  declined,  on  the  ground 
that,  as  they  were  intent  on  plundering  us,  giving  a  gun  would 
be  helping  them  to  do  so. 

"  This  they  denied,  saying  they  wanted  the  customary 
tribute  only.  I  asked  what  right  they  had  to  demand  pay- 
ment for  leave  to  tread  on  the  ground  of  God,  our  commoa 
Father.  If  we  trod  on  their  gardens,  we  would  pay,  but  not 


220  LIVINGSTONE'S   LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

for  marching  on  land  which  was  still  God's  and  not  theirs. 
They  did  not  attempt  to  controvert  this,  because  it  is  in 
accordance  with  their  own  ideas,  but  reverted  again  to  the 
pretended  crime  of  the  saliva. 

"  My  men  now  entreated  me  to  give  something ;  and  after 
asking  the  chief  if  he  really  thought  the  affair  of  the  spitting 
a  matter  of  guilt,  and  receiving  an  answer  in  the  affirmative, 
I  gave  him  one  of  my  shirts.  The  young  Chiboque  were 
dissatisfied,  and  began  shouting  and  brandishing  their  swords 
for  a  greater  fine. 

"  As  Pitsane  felt  that  he  had  been  the  cause  of  this  disagree- 
able affair,  he  asked  me  to  add  something  else.  I  gave  a 
bunch  of  beads,  but  the  counselors  objected  this  time,  so  I 
added  a  large  handkerchief.  The  more  I  yielded,  the  more 
unreasonable  their  demands  became,  and  at  every  fresh 
demand  a  shout  was  raised  by  the  armed  party,  and  a  rush 
made  around  us  with  brandishing  of  arms.  One  young  man 
made  a  charge  at  my  head  from  behind,  but  1  quickly  brought 
round  the  muzzle  of  my  gun  to  his  mouth,  and  he  retreated. 
I  pointed  him  out  to  the  chief,  and  he  ordered  him  to  retire 
a  little.  I  felt  anxious  to  avoid  the  effusion  of  blood ;  and 
though  sure  of  being  able,  with  my  Makololo,  who  had  been 
drilled  by  Sebituane,  to  drive  off  twice  the  number  of  our 
assailants,  though  now  a  large  body,  and  well  armed  with 
spears,  swords,  arrows  and  guns,  I  strove  to  avoid  actual 
collision. 

"  My  men  were  quite  unprepared  for  this  exhibition,  but 
behaved  with  admirable  coolness.  The  chief  and  counselors, 
by  accepting  my  invitation  to  be  seated,  had  placed  themselves 
in  a  trap,  for  my  men  very  quietly  surrounded  them,  and 
made  them  feel  that  there  was  no  chance  of  escaping  their 
spears.  I  then  said  that,  as  one  thing  after  another  had  failed 
to  satisfy  them,  it  was  evident  that  they  wanted  to  fight,  while 
we  only  wanted  to  pass  peaceably  through  the  country  ;  that 
they  must  begin  first,  and  bear  the  guilt  before  God:  we 
would  not  fight  till  they  had  struck  the  first  blow.  I  then 
sat  silent  for  some  time.  It  was  rather  trying  for  me,  because 


A   MUTINY  QUELLED.  221 

I  knew  that  the  Chiboque  would  aim  at  the  white  man  first ; 
but  I  was  careful  not  to  appear  flurried,  and,  having  four  bar- 
rels ready  for  instant  action,  looked  quietly  at  the  savage 
scene  around. 

"  The  Chiboque  at  last  put  the  matter  before  us  in  this 
way:— 

" '  You  come  among  us  in  a  new  way,  and  say  you  are  quite 
friendly :  how  can  we  know  it  unless  you  give  us  some  of 
your  food,  and  you  take  some  of  ours  \  If  you  give  us  an 
ox,  we  will  give  you  whatever  you  may  wish,  and  then  we 
shall  be  friends.' 

"  In  accordance  with  the  entreaties  of  my  men,  I  gave  an 
ox ;  and  when  asked  what  I  should  like  in  return,  mentioned 
food  as  the  thing  which  we  most  needed.  In  the  evening, 
Njambi  sent  us  a  very  small  basket  of  meal,  and  two  or  three 
pounds  of  the  flesh  of  our  own  ox,  with  the  apology  that  he 
had  no  fowls,  and  very  little  of  any  other  food." 

On  Saturday,  the  llth  of  March,  Livingstone  reached  a 
small  village,  where  he  was  quite  ill.  Here  a  mutiny  began 
to  show  itself  among  some  of  his  men,  who  thought  he  had 
been  partial  in  distributing  beads. 

"  On  Sunday  the  mutineers  were  making  a  terrible  din  in 
preparing  a  skin  they  had  procured.  I  requested  them  twice, 
by  the  man  who  attended  me,  to  be  more  quiet,  as  the  noise 
pained  me ;  but  as  they  paid  no  attention  to  this  civil  request, 
I  put  out  my  head,  and,  repeating  it  myself,  was  answered 
by  an  impudent  laugh.  Knowing  that  discipline  would  be 
at  an  end  if  this  mutiny  were  not  quelled,  and  that  our  lives 
'depended  on  vigorously  upholding  authority,  I  seized  a  dou- 
ble-barreled pistol,  and  darted  forth  from  the  domicile,  look- 
ing, I  suppose,  so  savage  as  to  put  them  to  a  precipitous  flight. 
As  some  remained  within  hearing,  I  told  them  that  I  must 
maintain  discipline,  though  at  the  expense  of  some  of  their 
limbs ;  so  long  as  we  traveled  together  they  must  remember 
that  I  was  master,  and  not  they.  There  being  but  little  room 
to  doubt  my  determination,  they  became  very  obedient,  and 


222  LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

never  afterward  gave  me  any  trouble,  or  imagined  that  they 
had  any  right  to  my  property. 

"  ~L3th.  "We  went  forward  some  miles,  but  were  brought 
to  a  stand  by  the  severity  of  my  fever  on  the  banks  of  a 
branch  of  the  Loajima,  another  tributary  of  the  Kasai.  I  was 
in  a  state  of  partial  coma  until  late  at  night,  when  it  became 
necessary  for  me  to  go  out ;  and  I  was  surprised  to  find  that 
my  men  had  built  a  little  stockade,  and  some  of  them  took 
their  spears  and  acted  as  a  guard.  I  found  that  we  were  sur- 
rounded by  enemies,  and  a  party  of  Chiboque  lay  near  the 
gateway,  after  having  preferred  the  demand  of  '  a  man,  an  ox, 
a  gun,  or  a  tusk.'  " 

After  long  negotiations  with  the  messengers  of  the  chief,  as 
there  was  no  help  for  it  without  bloodshed,  Livingstone  gave 
them  a  tired  riding  ox,  although  the  late  chief  mutineer 
objected,  and  armed  himself  and  stood  at  the  gateway, 
declaring  that  he  would  rather  die  than  see  his  father 
imposed  on. 

''We  prepared  for  defense  by  marching  in  a  compact  body, 
and  allowing  no  one  to  straggle  far  behind  the  others.  We 
marched  through  many  miles  of  gloomy  forest  in  gloomier 
silence,  but  nothing  disturbed  us.  We  came  to  a  village,  and 
found  all  the  men  absent,  the  guides  thought,  in  the  forest, 
with  their  countrymen.  I  was  too  ill  to  care  much  whether 
we  were  attacked  or  not.  Though  a  pouring  rain  came  on, 
as  we  were  all  anxious  to  get  away  out  of  a  bad  neighborhood, 
we  proceeded.  The  thick  atmosphere  prevented  my  seeing 
the  creeping  plants  in  time  to  avoid  them ;  so  Pitsane,  Moho- 
risi,  and  I,  who  alone  were  mounted,  were  often  caught ;  and 
as  there  is  no  stopping  the  oxen  when  they  have  the  prospect 
of  giving  the  rider  a  tumble,  we  came  frequently  to  the 
ground. 

"  In  addition  to  these  mishaps,  Sinbad  went  off  at  a  plung- 
ing gallop,  the  bridle  broke,  and  I  came  down  backward  on 
the  crown  of  my  head.  lie  gave  me  a  kick  on  the  thigh  at 
the  same  time.  I  felt  none  the  worse  for  this  rough  treat- 
ment, but  would  not  recommend  it  to  others  as  a  palliative  in 


SINBAD  THE  OX— HOSTILE  NATIVES.  223 

cases  of  fever !  This  last  attack  of  fever  was  so  obstinate  that 
it  reduced  me  almost  to  a  skeleton." 

Coming  to  a  ford,  some  hostile  natives  with  guns  and  iron- 
headed  arrows  refused  passage,  but  Livingstone  moved  on 
without  heeding  them  to  the  edge  of  a  forest,  for  protection 
in  case  of  attack,  which  appeared  imminent.  At  this  junc- 
ture a  venerable  negro  came  up  and  invited  them  to  be  seated, 
and  after  a  talk,  he  invited  them  to  his  village.  It  was  a 
small  one,  embowered  in  lofty  evergreen  trees  hung  with  fine 
festoons  of  creepers.  Here  the  same  demand  of  payment  for 
leave  to  pass  was  made  as  by  the  other  Chiboque.  A  valua- 
ble shell,  beads,  shirts  etc.,  were  offered,  but  nothing  would 
do  but  an  ox,  which  was  accordingly  given. 

"  One  of  the  oxen  offered  was  rejected  because  he  had  lost 
part  of  his  tail,  as  they  thought  it  had  been  cut  off  and  witch- 
craft medicine  inserted  ;  and  some  mirth  was  excited  by  my 
proposing  to  raise  a  similar  objection  to  all  the  oxen  we  still 
had  in  our  possession.  The  remaining  four  soon  presented  a 
singular  shortness  of  their  caudal  extremities,  and  we  were  no 
more  troubled  by  the  demand  for  an  ox. 

"Tonga  Panza's  sons  agreed  to  act  as  guides  into  the  terri- 
tory of  the  Portuguese  if  I  would  give  them  the  shell  given  me 
by  Shinte.  I  was  strongly  averse  to  this,  and  especially  to 
give  it  beforehand,  but  yielded  to  the  entreaty  of  my  people 
to  appear  as  if  showing  confidence  in  these  hopeful  youths. 
They  urged  that  they  wished  to  leave  the  shell  with  their 
wives,  as  a  sort  of  payment  to  them  for  enduring  their  hus- 
bands' absence  so  long.  Having  delivered  the  precious  shell, 
we  went  west-by-north  to  the  River  Chikapa.  We  were  fer- 
ried over  in  a  canoe,  made  out  of  a  single  piece  of  bark  sewed 
together  at  the  ends,  and  having  sticks  placed  it  it  at  different 
parts  to  act  as  ribs. 

"  One  could  detect,  in  passing,  the  variety  of  character 
found  among  the  owners  of  gardens  and  villages.  Some  vil- 
lages were  the  picture  of  neatness.  We  entered  others  envoi' 
oped  in  a  wilderness  of  weeds,  so  high  that,  when  sitting  on 
ox-back  in  the  village,  we  could  only  see  the  tops  of  the  huts. 


224  LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

If  we  entered  at  midday,  the  owners  would  come  lazily  forth, 
pipe  in  hand,  and  leisurely  puff  away  in  dreamy  indifference. 

"In  some  villages  weeds  are  not  allowed  to  grow ;  cotton, 
tobacco,  and  different  plants  used  as  relishes  are  planted  round 
the  huts ;  fowls  are  kept  in  cages,  and  the  gardens  present  the 
pleasant  spectacle  of  different  kinds  of  grain  and  pulse  at  vari- 
ous periods  of  their  growth.  I  sometimes  admired  the  one 
class,  and  at  times  wished  I  could  have  taken  the  world  easy 
for  a  time  like  the  other.  Every  village  swarms  with  chil- 
dren, who  turn  out  to  see  the  white  man  pass,  and  run  along 
with  strange  cries  and  antics  ;  some  run  up  trees  to  get  a  good 
view  :  all  are  agile  climbers  throughout  Londa.  At  friendly 
villages  they  have  scampered  alongside  our  party  for  miles  at 
a  time. 

"  We  usually  made  a  little  hedge  around  our  sheds ;  crowds 
of  women  came  to  the  entrance  of  it,  with  children  on  their 
backs,  and  long  pipes  in  their  mouths,  gazing  at  us  for  hours. 
The  men,  rather  than  disturb  them,  crawled  through  a  hole 
in  the  hedge,  and  it  was  common  to  hear  a  man  running  off 
to  say  to  them,  '  I  am  going  to  tell  my  mamma  to  come  and 
see  the  white  man's  oxen.' 

"  On  Sunday,  April  2d,  we  rested  beside  a  small  stream,  and 
our  hunger  being  now  very  severe,  from  having  lived  on 
manioc  alone  since  leaving  lonza  Panza's,  we  slaughtered  one 
of  our  four  remaining  oxen. 

"  Sansawe,  the  chief  of  a  portion  of  the  Bashinje,  having 
sent  the  usual  formal  demand  for  a  man,  an  ox,  or  a  tusk, 
spoke  very  contemptuously  of  the  poor  things  we  offered  him 
instead.  We  told  his  messengers  that  the  tusks  were  Sekele- 
tu's:  everything  was  gone  except  my  instruments,  which 
could  be  of  no  use  to  them  whatever.  One  of  them  begged 
some  meat,  and,  when  it  was  refused,  said  to  my  men,  '  You 
may  as  well  give  it,  for  we  shall  take  all  after  we  have  killed 
you  to-morrow.'  The  more  humbly  we  spoke,  the  more 
insolent  the  Bashinje  became,  till  at  last  we  were  all  feeling 
savage  and  sulky,  but  continued  to  speak  as  civilly  as  we 
could.  They  are  fond  of  argument,  and  when  I  denied  their 


AFRICAN  SOPHISTRY.  225 

right  to  demand  tribute  from  a  white  man,  who  did  not  trade 
in  slaves,  an  old  white-headed  negro  put  rather  a  posing 
question : — 

"  '  You  know  that  God  has  placed  chiefs  among  us  whom 
we  ought  to  support.  How  is  it  that  you,  who  have  a  book 
that  tells  you  about  him,  do  not  come  forward  at  once  to  pay 
this  chief  tribute  like  every  one  else  ?' 

"  I  replied  by  asking,  '  How  could  I  know  that  this  was  a 
chief,  who  had  allowed  me  to  remain  a  day  and  a  half  near 
him  without  giving  me  any  thing  to  eat  ?'  This,  which  to  the 
uninitiated  may  seem  sophistry,  was  to  the  Central  Africans 
quite  a  rational  question,  for  he  at  once  admitted  that  food 
ought  to  have  been  sent,  and  added  that  probably  his  chief 
was  only  making  it  ready  for  me,  and  that  it  would  come 
soon. 

"  As  soon  as  day  dawned  we  were  astir,  and,  setting  off  in 
a  drizzling  rain,  passed  close  to  the  village.  This  rain  proba- 
bly damped  the  ardor  of  the  robbers.  We,  however,  expect- 
ed to  be  fired  upon  from  every  clump  of  trees,  or  from  some 
of  the  rocky  hillocks  among  which  we  were  passing ;  and  it 
was  only  after  two  hours'  march  that  we  began  to  breathe 
freely,  and  my  men  remarked,  in  thankfulness, 

" '  "We  are  children  of  Jesus.' " 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TKAVELS. 
(THROUGH  ANGOLA  TO  ST.  PAUL  DE  LOANDA.) 

OX  the  13th,  of  April  Livingstone  reached  Cassange,  in 
Angola,  the  farthest  inland  station  of  the  Portuguese 
in  AVrestern  Africa.  Here  lived  about  forty  Portuguese  tra- 
ders, all  of  whom  were  officers  in  the  militia,  and  many  of 
them  had  become  rich  by  sending  native  traders  with  goods, 
to  trade  in  the  interior. 

"  I  made  my  entrance  in  a  somewhat  forlorn  state  as  to 
clothing  among  our  Portuguese  allies.  The  first  gentleman 
I  met  in  the  village  asked  if  I  had  a  passport,  and  said  it  was 
necessary  to  take  me  before  the  authorities.  As  I  was  in  the 
same  state  of  mind  in  which  individuals  are  who  commit  a 
petty  depredation  in  order  to  obtain  the  shelter  and  food  of  a 
prison,  I  gladly  accompanied  him  to  the  house  of  the  com- 
mandant Senhor  de  Silva  Rego.  Having  shown  my  passport 
he  politely  asked  me  to  supper.  Captain  Antonio  Neves 
then  kindly  invited  me  to  take  up  my  abode  in  his  house. 
Next  morning  this  generous  man  arrayed  me  in  decent  cloth- 
ing, and  continued  during  the  whole  period  of  my  stay  to 
treat  me  as  if  I  had  been  his  brother.  I  feel  duly  grateful  to 
him  for  his  disinterested  kindness. 

"  As  I  always  preferred  to  appear  in  my  own  proper  char- 
acter, I  was  an  object  of  curiosity  to  these  hospitable  Portu- 
guese. They  evidently  looked  upon  me  as  an  agent  of  the 
English  government,  engaged  in  some  new  movement  for  the 
suppression  of  slavery.  They  could  not  divine  what  a  "  mis- 
eionario"  had  to  do  with  the  latitudes  and  longitudes,  which 

226 


PORTUGUESE  CURIOSITY.  227 

I  was  intent  on  observing.  When  we  became  a  little  famil- 
iar, the  questions  put  were  rather  amusing  :  '  Is  it  common 
for  missionaries  to  be  doctors  ?'  '  Are  you  a  doctor  of  medicine 
and  a  '  doutor  mathematico'  too  ?  You  must  be  more  than  a 
missionary  to  know  how  to  calculate  the  longitude !  Come, 
tell  us  at  once  what  rank  you  hold  in  the  English  army.' 

"  They  may  have  given  credit  to  my  reason  for  wearing  the 
moustache,  as  that  explains  why  men  have  beards  and  women 
have  none  ;  but  that  which  puzzled  many  besides  my  Cassange 
friends  was  the  anomaly  of  my  being  a '  sacerdote,'  with  a  wife 
and  four  children !  I  usually  got  rid  of  the  last  question  by 
putting  another :  '  Is  it  not  better  to  have  children  with  a  wife, 
than  to  have  children  without  a  wife  ?'  But  all  were  most 
kind  and  hospitable ;  and  as  one  of  their  festivals  was  near, 
they  invited  me  to  partake  of  the  feast. 

"  As  far  as  a  traveler  could  judge  they  seemed  to  be  polite 
and  willing  to  aid  each  other.  They  had  neither  doctor, 
apothecary,  school,  nor  priest,  and  when  ill  trust  to  each  other 
and  to  Providence. 

"  None  of  these  gentlemen  had  Portuguese  wives.  They 
usually  come  to  Africa  in  order  to  make  a  little  money  and 
return  to  Lisbon.  It  is  common  for  them  to  have  families  by 
native  women.  Instances,  so  common  in  the  South,  in  which 
half-caste  children  are  abandoned,  are  here  extremely  rare. 
They  are  acknowledged  at  table,  and  provided  for  by  their 
fathers  as  if  European.  The  colored  clerks  of  the  merchants 
sit  at  the  same  table  with  their  employers  without  any  embar- 
rassment. The  civil  manners  of  superiors  to  inferiors  is  prob- 
ably the  result  of  the  position  they  occupy — a  few  whites 
among  thousands  of  blacks ;  but  nowhere  else  in  Africa  is 
there  so  much  good-will  between  Europeans  and  natives  as 
here. 

"  The  anniversary  of  the  Resurrection  of  our  Saviour  was 
observed  on  the  16th  of  April  as  a  day  of  rejoicing,  though 
the  Portuguese  have  no  priest  at  Cassange.  The  colored 
population  dressed  up  a  figure  intended  to  represent  Judas 
Iscariot,  and  paraded  him  on  a  riding-ox  about  the  village ; 


LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

sneers  and  maledictions  were  freely  bestowed  on  the  poor 
wretch  thus  represented.  The  slaves  and  free  colored  popu- 
lation, dressed  in  their  gayest  clothing,  made  visits  to  all  the 
principal  merchants,  and  wishing  them  '  a  good  feast '  expected 
a  present  in  return. 

"  As  the  traders  of  Cassange  were  the  first  white  men  we 
had  come  to,  we  sold  the  tusks  belonging  to  Sekeletu,  which 
had  been  brought  to  test  the  difference  of  prices  in  the  Mako- 
lolo  and  white  men's  country.  The  result  was  highly  satis- 
factory to  my  companions,  as  the  Portuguese  give  much 
larger  prices  for  ivory  than  traders  from  the  Cape  can  possi- 
bly give,  who  labor  under  the  disadvantage  of  considerable 
overland  expenses  and  ruinous  restrictions.  Two  muskets, 
three  small  barrels  of  gunpowder,  and  English  calico  and 
baize  sufficient  to  clothe  my  whole  party,  with  large  bunches 
of  beads,  all  for  one  tusk,  were  quite  delightful  to  those  who 
had  been  accustomed  to  give  two  tusks  for  one  gun.  With 
another  tusk  we  procured  calico,  which  here  is  the  chief  cur- 
rency, to  pay  our  way  down  to  the  coast.  The  remaining 
two  were  sold  for  money  to  purchase  a  horse  for  Sekeletu  at 
Loanda. 

"  The  superiority  of  this  market  was  quite  astounding  to 
the  Makololo,  and  they  began  to  abuse  the  traders  by  whom 
they  had,  while  in  their  own  country,  been  visited,  and,  as 
they  now  declared,  t  cheated.'  " 

At  this  place  Livingstone's  men  told  him  that  they  had 
been  thinking  it  would  be  better  not  to  go  any  further,  as 
the  colored  people  there  had  told  them  that  Livingstone  was 
leading  them  to  the  sea-coast  only  to  sell  them,  and  that  they 
would  be  put  on  board  ship,  fattened,  and  eaten  by  the  white 
men.  Livingstone  had  no  trouble  in  convincing  them  that 
the  English  never  bought  or  sold  people,  and  they  told  him 
that  they  would  follow  wherever  he  led  the  way.  This  affair 
being  disposed  of  for  the  time,  the  commandant  gave  Living- 
stone a  parting  dinner  and  an  ox  to  his  men,  and  the  travel- 
ers left  Cassange  on  the  21st  of  April. 

'•  All  the  merchants  of  Cassange  accompanied  us  in  their 


LEAVE  CASSANGE— OUR  GUIDE.  229 

hammocks  carried  by  slaves,  to  the  edge  of  the  plateau  on 
which  the  village  stands,  and  we  parted  with  the  feeling  in 
my  mind  that  I  should  never  forget  their  disinterested  kind- 
ness. May  God  remember  them  in  their  day  of  need ! 

"  The  latitude  and  longitude  of  Cassange,  the  most  easterly 
station  of  the  Portuguese  in  "Western  Africa,  is  lat.  9°  3*"' 
36V  S.,  and  long.  17°  49.'  E.;  consequently  we  had  still 
about  three  hundred  miles  to  traverse  before  we  could  reach 
the  coast.  We  had  a  black  militia  corporal  as  a  guide.  He 
was  a  native  of  Ambaca,  and,  like  nearly  all  the  inhabitants 
of  that  district,  known  by  the  name  of  Ambakistas,  could 
both  read  and  write.  He  had  three  slaves  with  him,  and 
was  carried  by  them  in  a  "  tipoia,"  or  hammock  slung  to  a 
pole.  His  slaves  were  young,  and  unable  to  convey  him  far 
at  a  time,  but  he  was  considerate  enough  to  walk  except 
when  we  came  near  to  a  village.  He  then  mounted  his 
tipoia  and  entered  the  village  in  state ;  his  departure  was 
made  in  the  same  manner,  and  he  continued  in  the  hammock 
till  the  village  was  out  of  sight. 

"  It  was  interesting  to  observe  the  manners  of  our  soldier- 
guide.  Two  slaves  were  always  employed  in  carrying  his 
tipoia,  and  the  third  carried  a  wooden  box,  about  three  feet 
long,  containing  his  writing  materials,  dishes,  and  clothing. 
He  was  cleanly  in  all  his  ways,  and,  though  quite  black  him- 
self, when  he  scolded  any  one  of  his  own  color,  abused  him 
as  a  *  negro.'  When  he  wanted  to  purchase  any  article  from 
a  village,  he  would  sit  down,  mix  a  little  gunpowder  as  ink, 
and  write  a  note  in  a  neat  hand  to  ask  the  price,  addressing  it 
to  the  shopkeeper  with  the  rather  pompous  title  "  Illnstris- 
simo  Senhor  "  (Most  Illustrious  Sir).  This  is  the  invariable 
mode  of  address  throughout  Angola.  The  answer  returned 
would  be  in  the  same  style,  and,  if  satisfactory,  another  note 
followed  to  conclude  the  bargain.  There  is  so  much  of  this 
note  correspondence  carried  on  in  Angola,  that  a  very  large 
quantity  of  paper  is  annually  consumed.  Some  other  pecu- 
liarities of  our  guide  were  not  so  pleasing. 

"  A  gentleman  of  Cassange  described  Tala  Mungongo  as  a 


230  LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

ran  i*e  of  very  high  mountains,  which  it  would  take  four 
hours  to  climb.  The  path  was  steep  and  slippery ;  deep  gorges 
appear  on  each  side  of  it,  leaving  but  a  narrow  path  along 
certain  spurs  of  the  sierra  for  the  traveler ;  but  we  accom- 
plished the  ascent  in  an  hour,  and  when  there,  found  we  had 
just  got  on  to  a  table-land  similar  to  that  we  had  left  before 
we  entered  the  great  Quango  valley.  We  had  come  among 
lofty  trees  again.  One  of  these,  bearing  a  fruit  about  the 
size  of  a  thirty -two  pounder,  is  named  Mononga-zambi. 

"  "We  took  a  glance  back  to  this  valley,  which  equals  that 
of  the  Mississippi  in  fertility,  and  thought  of  the  vast  mass 
of  material  which  had  been  scoped  out  and  carried  away  in 
its  formation.  This  naturally  led  to  reflection  on  the  count- 
less ages  required  for  the  previous  formation  and  deposition 
of  that  same  material  (clay  shale),  then  of  the  rocks,  whose 
abrasion  formed  that,  until  the  mind  grew  giddy  in  attempt- 
ing to  ascend  the  steps  which  lead  up  through  a  portion  of 
the  eternity  before  man.  The  different  epochs  of  geology 
are  like  landmarks  in  that  otherwise  shoreless  sea.  Our  own 
epoch,  or  creation,  is  but  another  added  to  the  number  of 
that  wonderful  series  which  presents  a  grand  display  of  the 
mighty  power  of  God ;  every  stage  of  progress  in  the  earth 
and  its  habitants  is  such  a  display.  So  far  from  this  science 
having  any  tendency  to  make  men  undervalue  the  power  or 
love  of  God,  it  leads  to  the  probability  that  the  exhibition  of 
mercy  we  have  in  the  gift  cf  his  Son  may  possibly  not  be  the 
only  manifestation  of  grace  which  has  taken  place  in  the 
countless  ages  during  which  works  of  creation  have  been 
going  on. 

"  Passing  through  a  fine,  fertile,  and  well-peopled  country 
to  Sanza,  we  found  the  Quize  Eiver  again  touching  our  path, 
and  here  we  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  a  field  of  wheat  grow- 
ing luxuriantly  without  irrigation.  The  ears  were  upward 
of  four  inches  long,  an  object  of  great  curiosity  to  my  com- 
panions, because  they  had  tasted  my  bread  at  Linyanti,  but 
had  never  before  seen  wheat  growing.  This  small  field  was 
cultivated  by  Mr.  Miland,  an  agreeable  Portuguese  merchant. 


MORE  TROUBLE  WITH  SINBAD.  231 

"  We  spent  Sunday,  the  30th  of  April,  at  Nigo,  close  to 
the  ford  of  the  Quize  as  it  crosses  our  path  to  fall  into  the 
Coanza,  The  country  becomes  more  open,  but  is  still  abund- 
antly fertile,  with  a  thick  crop  of  grass  between  two  and 
three  feet  high.  It  is  also  well  wooded  and  watered.  Yil- 
lages  of  Basongo  are  dotted  over  the  landscape,  and  frequently 
a  square  house  of  wattle  and  daub,  belonging  to  native  Port- 
uguese, is  placed  beside  them  for  the  purposes  of  trade.  The 
people  here  possess  both  cattle  and  pigs.  The  different  sleep- 
ing-places on  our  path,  from  eight  to  ten  miles  apart,  are 
marked  by  a  cluster  of  sheds  made  of  sticks  and  grass.  There 
is  a  constant  stream  of  people  going  and  returning  to  and 
from  the  coast.  The  goods  are  carried  on  the  head,  or  on 
one  shoulder,  in  a  sort  of  basket  attached  to  the  extremities 
of  two  poles  between  five  and  six  feet  long,  and  called 
Motete. 

"  It  would  have  afforded  me  pleasure  to  have  cultivated  a 
more  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  inhabitants  of  this  part 
of  the  country,  but  the  vertigo  produced  by  frequent  fevers 
made  it  as  much  as  I  could  do  to  stick  on  the  ox,  and  crawl 
along  in  misery.  In  crossing  the  Lombe,  my  ox,  Sinbad,  in 
the  indulgence  of  his  propensity  to  strike  out  a  new  path  for 
himself,  plunged  overhead  into  a  deep  hole,  and  so  soused 
me  that  I  was  obliged  to  move  on  to  dry  my  clothing,  with- 
out calling  on  the  Europeans  who  live  on  the  bank." 

At  Ambaca,  a  Portuguese  village  a  few  miles  beyond  the 
river  Lucalla,  Livingstone  was  kindly  received  by  the  com- 
mandant, who  spoke  a  little  English. 

"  He  recommended  wine  for  my  debility,  and  here  I  took 
the  first  glass  of  that  beverage  I  had  taken  in  Africa.  I  felt 
much  refreshed,  and  could  then  realize  and  meditate  on  the 
weakening  effects  of  the  fever.  They  were  curious  even  to 
myself ;  for,  though  I  had  tried  several  times  since  we  left 
Nigo  to  take  lunar  observations,  I  could  not  avoid  confusion 
of  time  and  distance,  neither  could  I  hold  the  instrument 
steady,  nor  perform  a  simple  calculation ;  hence  many  of  the 
positions  of  this  part  of  the  route  were  left  till  my  return 
12 


232  LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

from  Loanda.  Often,  on  getting  up  in  the  mornings,  I  found 
ray  clothing  as  wet  from  perspiration  as  if  it  had  been  dipped 
in  water.  In  vain  had  I  tried  to  learn  or  collect  words  of 
the  Bunda,  or  dialect  spoken  in  Angola.  I  forgot  the  days 
of  the  week  and  the  names  of  my  companions,  and,  had  I 
been  asked,  I  probably  could  not  have  told  my  own.  The 
complaint  itself  occupied  many  of  my  thoughts.  One  day 
I  supposed  that  I  had  got  the  true  theory  of  it,  and  would 
certainly  cure  the  next  attack,  whether  in  myself  or  compan- 
ions ;  but  some  new  symptoms  would  appear,  and  scatter  all 
the  fine  speculations  which  had  sprung  up,  with  extraordina- 
ry fertility,  in  one  department  of  my  brain. 

'•  "We  spent  Sunday,  the  14th  of  May,  at  Cabinda,  which  is 
one  of  the  stations  of  the  sub-commandants,  who  are  placed 
at  different  points  in  each  district  of  Angola  as  assistants  of 
the  head  commandant,  or  chief.  It  is  situated  in  a  beautiful 
glen,  and  surrounded  by  plantations  of  bananas  and  manioc. 
The  country  was  gradually  becoming  more  picturesque  the 
farther  we  proceeded  west ;  we  were  entering  upon  a  wild-look- 
ing mountainous  district  called  Golungo  Alto. 

"There  is  something  so  exhilarating  to  one  of  Highland  blood 
in  being  near  or  on  high  mountains,  that  I  forgot  my  fever 
as  we  wended  our  way  among  the  lofty  tree-covered  masses 
of  mica  schist. 

"  "We  left  Golungo  Alto  on  the  24th  of  May,  the  winter  in 
these  parts.  Every  evening,  clouds  come  rolling  in  great 
masses  over  the  mountains  in  the  west,  and  pealing  thunder 
accompanies  the  fall  of  rain  during  the  night  or  early  in  the 
morning.  The  clouds  generally  remain  on  the  hills  till  the 
morning  is  well  spent,  so  that  we  become  familiar  with  morn- 
ing mists,  a  thing  we  never  once  saw  at  Kolobeng.  The  ther- 
mometer stands  at  80°  by  day,  but  sinks  as  low  as  76°  by 
night. 

'  As  we  were  now  drawing  near  to  the  sea,  my  companions 
were  looking  at  every  thing  in  a  serious  light.  One  of  them 
asked  me  if  we  should  all  have  an  opportunity  of  watching 
each  other  at  Loanda.  *  Suppose  one  went  for  water,  would 


FIRST  VIEW  OP  THE  ATLANTIC.  235 

the  others  see  if  he  were  kidnapped  ?'  I  replied, '  I  see  what 
you  are  driving  at ;  and  if  you  suspect  me,  you  may  return, 
for  I  am  as  ignorant  of  Loanda  as  you  are ;  but  nothing  will 
happen  to  you  but  what  happens  to  myself.  We  have  stood 
by  each  other  hitherto,  and  will  do  so  to  the  last.'  The  plains 
adjacent  to  Loanda  are  somewhat  elevated  and  comparatively 
sterile.  On  coming  across  these  we  first  beheld  the  sea :  my 
companions  looked  upon  the  boundless  ocean  with  awe. 

"On  describing  their  feelings  afterward,  they  remarked  that 
*  we  marched  along  with  our  father,  believing  that  what  the 
ancients  had  always  told  us  was  true,  that  the  world  has  no 
end  ;  but  all  at  once  the  world  said  to  us, '  I  am  finished ;  there 
is  no  more  of  me !' '  They  had  always  imagined  that  the 
world  was  one  extended  plain  without  limit. 

"  As  we  came  down  the  declivity  above  the  city  of  Loanda 
on  the  31st  of  May,  I  was  laboring  under  great  depression  of 
spirits,  as  i  understood  that,  in  a  population  of  twelve  thou- 
sand souls,  there  was  but  one  genuine  English  gentleman.  I 
naturally  felt  anxious  to  know  whether  he  were  possessed  of 
good-nature,  or  was  one  of  those  crusty  mortals  one  would 
rather  not  meet  at  all. 

"  This  gentleman,  Mr.  Gabriel,  our  commissioner  for  the 
suppression  of  the  slave-trade,  had  kindly  forwarded  an  invi- 
tation to  meet  me  on  the  way  from  Cassange,  but,  unfortu- 
nately, it  crossed  me  on  the  road.  When  we  entered,  his 
porch,  I  was  delighted  to  see  a  number  of  flowers  cultivated 
carefully,  and  inferred  from  this  circumstance  that  he  was, 
what  I  soon  discovered  him  to  be,  a  real  whole-hearted 
Englishman. 

"  Seeing  me  ill,  he  benevolently  offered  me  his  bed.  Never 
shall  I  forget  the  luxurious  pleasure  I  enjoyed  in  feeling 
myself  again  on  a  good  English  couch,  after  six  months'  sleep- 
ing on  the  ground.  I  was  soon  asleep;  and  Mr.  Gabriel, 
coming  in  almost  immediately,  rejoiced  at  the  soundness  of 
my  repose." 

At  Loanda,  Livingstone  found  himself  among  friends. 
Several  Portuguese  gentlemen  called  on  him,  and  the  Bishop 


236  LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

of  Angola,  then  the  acting  governor  of  the  province,  sent  his 
secretary  to  do  the  same,  and  offer  the  services  of  the  govern- 
ment physician. 

Some  English  cruisers  also  came  into  the  port,  and  seeing 
Livingstone's  emaciated  condition,  offered  to  convey  him  to 
St.  Helena,  or  homeward.  But  as  he  had  brought  with  him 
a  party  of  Sekeletu's  people,  who  could  not  possibly  return 
home  alone,  on  account  of  the  unfriendliness  of  the  tribes 
near  the  western  coast,  he  resolved  to  return  with  them. 

Dr.  Livingstone's  health  improved  under  medical  treatment, 
and  on  the  14th  he  was  able  to  call  on  the  bishop  accompa- 
nied by  his  men,  who  were  dressed  in  robes  of  striped  cotton 
cloth  and  red  caps,  all  presented  to  them  by  Mr.  Gabriel. 

"  Every  one  remarked  the  serious  deportment  of  the  Mako- 
lolo.  They  viewed  the  large  stone  houses  and  churches  in 
the  vicinity  of  the  great  ocean  with  awe.  A  house  with  two 
stories  was,  until  now,  beyond  their  comprehension.  Some 
Makololo,  who  had  visited  my  little  house  at  Kolobeng,  in 
trying  to  describe  it  to  their  countrymen  at  Linyanti,  said, 
*  It  is  not  a  hut ;  it  is  a  mountain  with  several  caves  in  it.' " 

The  party  were  invited  to  visit  an  English  cruiser,  and 
nearly  all  of  them  went,  as  Livingstone  assured  them  there 
was  no  danger  in  doing  so.  When  safely  aboard,  finding  that 
the  men  were  all  like  tjieir  leader,  their  fears  vanished,  and 
they  were  soon  on  intimate  terms  with  the  jolly  tars,  who 
shared  with  them  their  dinner  of  bread  and  beef.  A  cannon 
•was  tired  off,  which  gave  them  exalted  ideas  of  its  power,  and 
they  were  greatly  pleased  when  told  that  it  was  what  the 
slave-trade  was  put  down  with. 

Dr.  Livingstone  speaks  of  St.  Paul  de  Loanda  as  follows  :— 

"  It  has  been  a  very  considerable  city,  but  is  now  in  a  state 
of  decay.  It  contains  about  twelve  thousand  inhabitants, 
most  of  whom  are  people  of  color.  There  are  various  evi- 
dences of  its  former  magnificence,  especially  two  cathedrals, 
one  of  which,  once  a  Jesuit  college,  is  now  converted  into  a 
work-shop ;  and  in  passing  the  other,  we  saw  with  sorrow  a 
number  of  oxen  feeding  within  its  stately  walls.  Three  forts 


LITE  IN  ST.  PAUL  DE  LOANDA.  937 

continue  in  a  good  state  of  repair.  Many  large  stone  houses 
are  to  be  found.  The  palace  of  the  governor  and  government 
offices  are  commodious  structures,  but  nearly  all  the  houses  of 
the  native  inhabitants  are  of  wattle  and  daub.  Trees  are 
planted  all  over  the  town  for  the  sake  of  shade,  and  the  city 
presents  an  imposing  appearance  from  the  sea. 

"  In  1839,  my  friend,  Mr.  Gabriel,  saw  thirty -seven  slave- 
ships  lying  in  this  harbor,  waiting  for  their  cargoes,  under 
the  protection  of  the  guns  of  the  forts.  At  that  time  slavers 
had  to  wait  many  months  at  a  time  for  a  human  freight,  and 
a  certain  sum  per  head  was  paid  to  the  government  for  all 
that  were  exported." 

In  the  beginning  of  August,  Livingstone  had  a  relapse, 
which  reduced  him  to  a  mere  skeleton,  but  he  slowly  recov- 
ered. During  his  sickness,  his  men  employed  themselves  in 
collecting  fire-wood  in  the  country  and  selling  it  in  the  city. 
They  also  earned  something  in  unloading  coal  from  a  ship, 
and  were  greatly  astonished  at  the  quantity  of  *  stones  that 
burn '  which  the  ship  held.  With  the  money  thus  earned 
they  bought  clothing,  beads,  etc.,  to  take  home  with  them. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TKAYELS. 
(ACROSS  THE  CONTINENT — LOANDA  TO  LINYANTI.) 

ON  the  20th  of  September  1854,  Livingstone  set  out  on  his 
return  journey,  having  been  supplied  with  a  good  tent  and 
other  necessaries  and  comforts  by  his  English  and  Portuguese 
friends.  He  also  carried  with  him,  as  a  present  to  Sekeletu 
from  the  government  and  merchants  of  Loanda,  a  colonel's 
complete  uniform  and  a  horse,  with  other  articles. 

The  party  proceeded  by  sea  as  far  as  the  mouth  of  the  river 
Bengo,  thence  up  the  river  to  Icallo  i  Bengo,  accompanied 
thus  far  by  his  friend  and  generous  host,  Edmund  Gabriel. 
The  Governor  of  Angola  had  furnished  the  explorer  with 
twenty  attendants,  and  sent  forward  orders  to  all  the  com- 
mandants of  the  districts  through  which  he  was  to  pass  to 
render  him  every  assistance  in  their  power. 

II is  general  route  was  the  same  as  on  the  advance  across  the 
continent  to  the  Atlantic  coast.  He,  however,  made  several 
detours,  one  of  which  was  to  the  famous  rocks  of  Pungo 
Andongo,  which  he  thus  describes  : — 

"In  all  my  previous  inquiries  respecting  the  vegetable  pro- 
ducts of  Angola,  I  was  invariably  directed  to  Pungo  Andongo. 
Do  you  grow  wheat?  'Oh,  yes,  in  Pungo  Andongo.' — 
Grapes,  figs,  or  peaches  ?  *  Oh,  yes,  in  Pungo  Andongo.' — 
Do  you  make  butter,  cheese,  etc.  ?  The  uniform  answer  was, 
'Oh,  yes,  there  is  an  abundance  of  all  these  in  Pungo 
Andongo.'  But  when  we  arrived  here,  we  found  that  the 
answers  all  referred  to  the  activity  of  one  man,  Colonel  Man.- 

238 


AGRICULTURE  IN  ANGOLA.  239 

nel  Antonio  Pires.  The  presence  of  the  wild  grape  show  that 
vineyards  could  be  cultivated  with  success ;  the  wheat  grows 
well  without  irrigation ;  and  one  who  tasted  the  butter  and 
cheese  at  the  table  of  Colonel  Pires  would  prefer  them  to  tlie 
stale  produce  of  the  Irish  dairy,  in  general  use  throughout 
that  province.  The  cattle  in  this  country  are  seldom  milked, 
on  account  of  the  strong  prejudice  which  the  Portuguese 
entertain  against  the  use  of  milk.  They  believe  that  it  may 
be  used  with  safety  in  the  morning,  but  if  taken  after  midday, 
that  it  will  cause  fever. 

"  The  fort  of  Pungo  Andongo  is  situated  in  the  midst  of  a 
group  of  curious  columnar-shaped  rocks,  each  of  which  is 
upward  of  three  hundred  feet  in  height.  They  are  conglom- 
erate, made  up  of  a  great  variety  of  rounded  pieces  in  a 
matrix  of  dark  red  sandstone.  They  rest  on  a  thick  stratum 
of  this  last  rock,  with  very  few  of  the  pebbles  in  its  substance. 
On  this  a  fossil  palm  has  been  found,  and  if  of  the  same  age  as 
those  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  continent,  on  which  similar 
palms  now  lie,  there  may  be  coal  underneath  this,  as  well  as 
under  that  at  Tete. 

"  The  gigantic  pillars  of  Pungo  Andongo  have  been  formed 
by  a  current  of  ,the  sea  coming  from  the  S.  S.  E. ;  for,  seen 
from  the  top,  they  appear  arranged  in  that  direction,  and 
must  have  withstood  the  surges  of  the  ocean,  at  a  period  of 
our  world's  history  when  the  relations  of  land  and  sea  were 
totally  different  from  what  they  are  now. 

"Colonel  Pires  is  a  good  example  of  what  an  honest,  indus- 
trious man  in  this  country  may  become.  He  came  as  a  ser- 
vant in  a  ship,  and,  by  a  long  course  of  persevering  labor,  has 
raised  himself  to  be  the  richest  merchant  in  Angola.  He 
possesses  some  thousands  of  cattle ;  and  on  any  emergency, 
can  appear  in  the  field  with  several  hundred  armed  slaves. 

"While  enjoying  the  hospitality  of  this  merchant-prince  in 
his  commodious  residence,  which  is  outside  the  rocks  and 
commands  a  beautiful  view  of  all  the  adjacent  country,  I 
learned  that  all  my  despatches,  maps,  and  journal  had  gone 
to  the  bottom  of  the  sea  in  the  mail-packet  "  Forerunner."  I 


24:0  LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

felt  BO  glad  that  my  friend  Lieutenant  Bedingfeld,  to  whose 
care  I  had  committed  them,  though  in  the  most  imminent 
danger,  had  not  shared  a  similar  fate,  that  I  was  at  once  rec- 
onciled to  the  labor  of  rewriting.  I  availed  myself  of  the 
kindness  of  Colonel  Pires,  and  remained  till  the  end  of  the 
year  reproducing  my  lost  papers. 

"It  is  surprising  that  so 'little  has  been  done  in  the  way  of 
agriculture  in  Angola.  Raising  wheat  by  means  of  irrigation 
has  never  been  tried ;  no  plow  is  ever  used ;  and  the  only 
in.-.t  runient  is  the  native  hoe  in  the  hands  of  slaves.  The  chief 
object  of  agriculture  is  the  manioc,  which  does  not  contain 
nutriment  sufficient  to  give  proper  stamina  to  the  people. 
The  half-caste  Portuguese  have  not  so  much  energy  as  their 
fathers.  They  subsist  chiefly  on  the  manioc,  and,  as  that  can. 
be  eaten  either  raw,  roasted,  or  boiled,  as  it  comes  from  the 
ground ;  or  fermented  in  water,  and  then  roasted  or  dried 
after  fermentation,  and  baked  or  pounded  into  fine  meal ;  or 
rasped  into  meal  and  cooked  as  farina ;  or  made  into  confec- 
tionery with  butter  and  sugar,  it  does  not  so  pall  upon  the 
palate  as  one  might  imagine,  when  told  that  it  constitutes 
their  principal  food.  The  leaves  boiled  make  an  excellent 
vegetable  for  the  table ;  and  when  eaten  by  goats,  their  milk 
is  much  increased." 

Marriages  and  funerals  in  Angola  are  thus  described.  It 
will  be  seen  that  the  folly  of  expensive  funerals  is  not  con- 
fined to  civilization. 

"  The  chief  recreations  of  the  natives  of  Angola  are  mar- 
riages and  funerals.  When  a  young  woman  is  about  to  be 
married,  she  is  placed  in  a  hut  alone  and  anointed  with  vari- 
ous unguents,  and  many  incantations  are  employed  in  order 
to  secure  good  fortune  and  fruitfulness.  Here,  as  almost 
every  where  in  the  south,  the  height  of  good  fortune  is  to 
bear  sons.  They  often  leave  a  husband  altogether  if  they 
have  daughters  only.  In  their  dances,  when  any  one  may 
wish  to  deride  another,  in  the  accompanying  song  a  line  is 
introduced,  '  So  and  so  has  no  children,  and  never  will  get 


RECREATIONS  OF  THE  NATIVES.  241 

any.'  She  feels  the  insult  so  keenly  that  it  is  not  uncommon 
for  her  to  rush  away  and  commit  suicide. 

"  After  some  days  the  bride  elect  is  taken  to  another  hut, 
and  adorned  with  all  the  richest  clothing  and  ornaments  that 
the  relatives  can  either  lend  or  borrow.  She  is  then  placed 
in  a  public  situation,  saluted  as  a  lady,  and  presents  made  by 
all  her  acquaintances  are  placed  around  her.  After  this  she 
is  taken  to  the  residence  of  her  husband,  where  she  has  a  hut 
for  herself,  and  becomes  one  of  several  wives,  for  polygamy 
is  general.  Dancing,  feasting,  and  drinking  on  such  occasions 
are  prolonged  for  several  days.  In  case  of  separation,  the 
woman  returns  to  her  father's  family,  and  the  husband  receives 
back  what  he  gave  for  her. 

"  In  cases  of  death  the  body  is  kept  several  days,  and  there 
is  a  grand  concourse  of  both  sexes,  with  beating  of  drums, 
dances,  and  debauchery,  kept  up  with  feasting,  etc.,  according 
to  the  means  of  the  relatives.  The  great  ambition  of  many 
of  the  blacks  of  Angola  is  to  give  their  friends  an  expensive 
funeral.  Often,  when  one  is  asked  to  sell  a  pig,  he  replies,'! 
am  keeping  it  in  case  of  the  death  of  any  of  my  friends.'  A 
pig  is  usually  slaughtered  and  eaten  on  the  last  day  of  the 
ceremonies,  and  its  head  thrown  into  the  nearest  stream  or 
river.  A  native  will  sometimes  appear  intoxicated  on  these 
occasions,  and,  if  blamed  for  his  intemperance,  will  reply, 
*  Why !  my  mother  is  dead !'  " 

Livingstone  left  Pungo  Andongo  on  the  first  day  of  Janu- 
ary 1855.  At  Tala  Mungongo  he  met  a  native  of  Bihe  who 
had  visited  the  country  of  Shinte  three  times : — 

"  He  gave  us  some  of  the  news  of  that  distant  part,  but  not 
a  word  of  the  Makololo,  who  have  always  been  represented 
in  the  countries  to  the  north  as  a  desperately  savage  race, 
whom  no  trader  could  visit  with  safety.  The  half-caste  tra- 
ders whom  we  met  at  Shinte's  had  returned  to  Angola  with 
sixty -six  slaves  and  upward  of  fifty  tusks  of  ivory.  As  we 
came  along  the  path,  we  daily  met  long  lines  of  carriers  bear- 
ing large  square  masses  of  beeswax,  each  about  a  hundred 
pounds  weight,  and  numbers  of  elephants'  tusks,  the  property 


242  LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

of  Angolese  merchants.  Many  natives  were  proceeding  to 
the  coast  also  on  their  own  account,  carrying  beeswax,  ivory, 
and  sweet  oil. 

"  They  appeared  to  travel  in  perfect  security ;  and  at  different 
parts  of  the  road  we  purchased  fowls  from  them  at  a  penny 
i-a.-h.  My  men  took  care  to  celebrate  their  own  daring  in 
having  actually  entered  ships,  while  the  natives  of  these  parts, 
who  had  endeavored  to  frighten  them  on  their  way  down,  had 
only  seen  them  at  a  distance.  Poor  fellows !  they  were  more 
than  ever  attentive  to  me ;  and,  as  they  were  not  obliged  to 
erect  sheds  for  themselves,  in  consequence  of  finding  them 
already  built  at  the  different  sleeping-places,  all  their  care  was 
bestowed  in  making  me  comfortable.  Mashauana,  as  usual, 
made  his  bed  with  his  head  close  to  my  feet,  and  never  dur- 
ing the  entire  journey  did  I  have  to  call  him  twice  for  any 
thing  I  needed." 

About  the  middle  of  April,  Livingstone  was  taken  sick  at 
a  village  in  the  Chiboque  territory.  When  about  to  start  on 
again  he  had  some  trouble  with  the  natives : — 

"  It  happened  that  the  head  man  of  the  village  where  I  had 
lain  twenty-two  days,  while  bargaining  and  quarreling  in  my 
camp  for  a  piece  of  meat,  had  been  struck  on  the  mouth  by 
one  of  my  men.  My  principal  men  paid  five  pieces  of  cloth 
and  a  gun  as  an  atonement ;  but  the  more  they  yielded,  the 
more  exorbitant  he  became,  and  he  sent  word  to  all  the  sur- 
rounding villages  to  aid  him  in  avenging  the  affront  of  a 
blow  on  the  beard.  As  their  courage  usually  rises  with  suc- 
cess, I  resolved  to  yield  no  more,  and  departed.  In  passing 
through  a  forest  in  the  country  beyond,  we  were  startled  by 
a  body  of  men  rushing  after  us.  They  began  by  knocking 
down  the  burdens  of  the  hindermost  of  my  men,  and  several 
shots  were  fired,  each  party  spreading  out  on  both  sides  of 
the  path. 

"  I  fortunately  had  a  six-barreled  revolver.  Taking  this 
in  my  hand,  and  forgetting  fever,  I  staggered  quickly  along 
the  path  with  two  or  three  of  my  men,  and  fortunately 
encountered  the  chief.  The  sight  of  the  six  barrels  gaping 


ATTACKED  IN  A  FOREST.  243 

into  his  stomach,  with  my  own  ghastly  visage  looking  dag- 
gers at  his  face,  seemed  to  produce  an  instant  revolution  in 
his  martial  feelings,  for  he  cried  out,  l  Oh  !  I  have  only  come 
to  speak  to  you,  and  wish  peace  only.'  Mashauana  had  hold 
of  him  by  the  hand,  and  found  him  shaking.  We  examined 
his  gun,  and  found  that  it  had  been  discharged.  Both  par- 
ties crowded  up  to  their  chief.  One  of  the  opposite  party 
coming  too  near,  one  of  mine  drove  him  back  with  a  battle- 
axe.  The  enemy  protested  their  amicable  intentions,  and 
my  men  asserted  the  fact  of  having  the  goods  knocked  down 
as  evidence  of  the  contrary. 

"  Without  waiting  long,  I  requested  all  to  sit  down,  and  Pit- 
sane,  placing  his  hand  upon  the  revolver,  somewhat  allayed 
their  fears.  I  then  said  to  the  chief,  ( If  you  have  come 
with  peaceable  intentions,  we  have  no  other  ;  go  away  home 
to  your  village.'  He  replied,  '  I  am  afraid  lest  you  shoot 
me  in  the  back.'  I  rejoined,  '  If  I  wanted  to  kill  you,  I 
could  shoot  you  in  the  face  as  well.'  Mosantu  called  out  to 
me, '  That's  only  a  Makalaka  trick ;  don't  give  him  your  back ' 
But  I  said,  '  Tell  him  to  observe  that  I  am  not  afraid  of 
him ;'  and,  turning,  mounted  my  ox.  There  was  not  much 
danger  in  the  fire  that  was  opened  at  first,  there  being  so 
many  trees.  The  enemy  probably  expected  that  the  sudden 
attack  would  make  us  forsake  our  goods,  and  allow  them  to 
plunder  with  ease.  The  villagers  were  no  doubt  pleased  with 
being  allowed  to  retire  unscathed,  and  we  were  also  glad  to 
get  away  without  having  shed  a  drop  of  blood,  or  having 
compromised  ourselves  for  any  future  visit.  My  men  were 
delighted  with  their  own  bravery,  and  made  the  woods  ring 
wTith  telling  each  other  how  '  brilliant  their  conduct  before 
the  enemy '  would  have  been,  had  hostilities  not  been  brought 
to  a  sudden  close." 

The  party  traveled  some  distance  with  a  company  of  Pom- 
beiros  or  native  traders. 

"  One  of  them  had  eight  good-looking  women  in  a  chain, 
whom  he  was  taking  to  the  country  of  Matiamvo  to  sell  for 
ivory.  They  always  looked  ashamed  when  I  happened  to 


244  LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

come  near  them,  and  must  have  felt  keenly  their  forlorn  and 
degraded  position." 

On  the  30th  of  April  Livingstone  crossed  the  Loajima,  and 
we  must  not  fail  to  give  his  account  of  the  people  of  this 
region,  and  of  their  mode  of  head-dressing,  that  our  ladies 
may  take  some  hints  : — 

"  The  people  in  these  parts  seemed  more  slender  in  form, 
and  their  color  a  lighter  olive,  than  any  we  had  hitherto  met. 
The  mode  of  dressing  the  great  masses  of  woolly  hair  which 
lav  upon  their  shoulders,  together  with  their  general  features, 
again  reminded  me  of  the  ancient  Egyptians.  A  few  of  the 
ladies  adopt  a  curious  custom  of  attaching  the  hair  to  a  hoop 
which  encircles  the  head,  giving  it  somewhat  the  appearance 
of  the  glory  round  the  head  of  the  Yirgin.  Others  wear  an 
ornament  of  woven  hair  and  hide  adorned  with  beads.  The 
hair  of  the  tails  of  buffaloes,  which  are  to  be  found  farther 
east,  is  sometimes  added.  While  others  weave  their  own 
hair  on  pieces  of  hide  into  the  form  of  buffalo  horns,  or  make 
a  single  horn  in  front." 

The  party  made  another  detour  southward  to  get  provisions 
in  a  cheaper  market,  and  found  the  people  timid  and  very 
civil.  Their  teeth  were  filed  to  a  point,  and  many  of  the  men 
were  dandies,  who  put  so  much  oil  on  their  hair  that  it  run 
down  on  their  shoulders.  Some  thrummed  a  musical  instru- 
ment the  livelong  day,  and  whenever  they  woke  at  night. 
Ladies  were  seen  carefully  tending  little  lap-dogs,  which  were 
destined  to  be  eaten.  The  air  was  oppressively  hot,  and  game 
very  scarce. 

Cabango  (lat.  9°  31'  S.,  long.  20°  31'  E.)  was  the  town  of 
Mnanzan/a,  one  of  Matiamvo's  subordinate  chiefs.  About 
thirty-four  miles  east  of  the  Lolua,  and  a  hundred  and  thirty- 
two  miles  E.  N.  E.  of  Cabango  was  the  town  of  Matiamvo, 
the  paramount  chief  of  all  the  Balonda.  Livingstone  was 
anxious  to  visit  Matiamvo,  but  did  not  think  it  prudent  to 
do  so. 

Leaving  Cobango  on  the  21st  of  May,  Livingstone  passed 
through  many  villages  of  friendly  natives,  and  reached  the 


TERROR  INSPIRED  BY  WHITE  MEN.  245 

town  of  the  chief,  Bango,  whose  people  looked  upon  cattle  as 
human,  and  would  not  partake  of  the  beef  offered  them.  Here 
he  remained  three  days,  and  on  the  30th  of  May  proceeded 
toward  the  river  Loembwy. 

"  The  villages  are  widely  apart  and  difficult  of  access,  from 
the  paths  being  so  covered  with  tall  grass  that  even  an  ox 
can  scarcely  follow  the  track.  The  grass  cuts  the  feet  of  the 
men  ;  yet  we  met  a  woman  with  a  little  child,  and  a  girl,  wend- 
ing their  way  home  with  loads  of  manioc.  The  sight  of  a 
white  man  always  infuses  a  tremor  into  their  dark  bosoms, 
and  in  every  case  of  the  kind  they  appeared  immensely 
relieved  when  I  had  fairly  passed  without  having  sprung 
upon  them.  In  the  villages  the  dogs  run  away  with  their 
tails  between  their  legs,  as  if  they  had  seen  a  lion.  The 
women  peer  from  behind  the  walls  till  he  comes  near  them, 
and  then  hastily  dash  into  the  house.  When  a  little  child, 
unconscious  of  danger,  meets  you  in  the  street,  he  sets  up  a 
scream  at  the  apparition,  and  conveys  the  impression  that  he 
is  not  far  from  going  into  fits.  The  dreary  uniformity  of 
gloomy  forests  and  open  flats  must  have  a  depressing  influence 
on  the  minds  of  the  people.  Some  villages  appear  more 
superstitious  than  others,  if  we  may  judge  from  the  greater 
number  of  idols  they  contain. 

"  At  every  village  attempts  were  made  to  induce  us  to 
remain  a  night.  Sometimes  large  pots  of  beer  were  offered 
to  us  as  a  temptation.  Occasionally  the  head  man  would 
peremptorily  order  us  to  halt  under  a  tree  which  he  pointed 
out.  At  other  times  young  men  volunteered  to  guide  us  to 
the  impassable  part  of  the  next  bog,  in  the  hope  of  bringing 
us  to  a  stand,  for  all  are  excessively  eager  to  trade ;  but  food 
was  so  very  cheap  that  we  sometimes  preferred  paying  them 
to  keep  it,  and  let  us  part  in  good  humor." 

On  the  evening  of  the  20th  of  June,  Livingstone  reached 
the  village  of  a  chief  named  Kawawa,  and  on  the  next  day 
had  a  long  and  very  friendly  talk  with  him.  But  when  the 
travelers  were  ready  to  start,  Kawawa  sent  a  messenger 
demanding  an  ox  or  a  man,  and  then  came  himself  to  say  that 


246  LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

lie  had  seen  all  the  goods,  and  must  have  all  of  them  that  he 
•wanted,  as  a  tribute  for  crossing  the  Kasai. 

"  I  replied  that  the  goods  were  my  property  and  not  his ; 
that  I  would  never  liaye  it  said  that  a  white  man  had  paid 
tribute  to  a  black,  and  that  I  should  cross  the  Kasai  in  spite 
of  him.  He  ordered  his  people  to  arm  themselves,  and  when 
some  of  my  men  saw  them  rushing  for  their  bows,  arrows, 
and  spears,  they  became  somewhat  panic-stricken.  I  ordered 
them  to  move  away,  and  not  to  fire  unless  Kawawa's  people 
struck  the  first  blow.  I  took  the  lead,  and  expected  them  all 
to  follow,  as  they  usually  had  done,  but  many  of  my  men 
remained  behind.  When  I  knew  this,  I  jumped  off  the  ox, 
and  made  a  rush  to  them  with  the  revolver  in  my  hand. 
Kawawa  ran  away  among  his  people,  and  they  turned  their 
backs  too.  I  shouted  to  my  men  to  take  up  their  luggage 
and  march ;  some  did  so  with  alacrity,  feeling  that  they  had 
disobeyed  orders  by  remaining  ;  but  one  of  them  refused,  and 
was  preparing  to  fire  at  Kawawa,  until  I  gave  him  a  punch 
on  the  head  with  the  pistol,  and  made  him  go  too.  I  felt 
here,  as  elsewhere,  that  subordination  must  be  maintained  at 
all  risks.  We  all  moved  into  the  forest,  the  people  of  Kawawa 
standing  about  a  hundred  yards  off,  gazing,  but  not  firing  a 
shot  or  an  arrow." 

On  the  14th  of  June,  Livingstone  was  gratified  to  see  some 
old  familiar  faces  among  the  straggling  villages  over  which 
Katema  rules,  though  many  whose  acquaintance  he  had  made 
in  going  north  he  now  found  in  their  graves.  Katema  came 
to  see  him,  and  was  presented  with  a  cloak  of  red  baize 
trimmed  with  gold  tinsel.  He  departed  mounted  on  the 
shoulders  of  his  spokesman,  who  was  a  much  more  slender 
man  than  his  chief. 

Before  reaching  the  town  of  Shinte  many  large  Tillages 
were  passed  through,  inhabited  by  Balobale  who  had  fled 
from  the  chief,  Kingenke,  because  he  sold  his  people  to  the 
traders  who  came  from  Bihe. 

The  travelers  received  a  hearty  welcome  from  Shinte,  and 
after  remaining  with  him  till  the  6th  of  July,  parted  with 


CEMENTING  FRIENDSHIP.  247 

him  on  the  best  possible  terms.  They  then  proceeded  to  the 
village  of  his  sister,  Nyamoana.  Here  they  borrowed  five 
canoes  and  began  the  descent  of  the  Leebe. 

On  arriving  in  the  territory  of  their  old  friend,  Manenko, 
they  sent  a  messenger  to  her  town,  which  was  fifteen  miles 
from  the  river.  Her  husband,  Sambanza,  went  at  once  to 
see  Livingstone  with  presents  of  food.  He  gave  an  account 
of  the  affairs  of  the  country,  and  next  morning  performed 
the  ceremony  called  "  kasendi,"  for  cementing  friendship.  It 
is  performed  as  follows : — 

"  The  hands  of  the  parties  are  joined  (in  this  case  Pitsane 
and  Sambanza  were  the  parties  engaged)  ;  small  incisions  are 
made  on  the  clasped  hands,  on  the  pits  of  the  stomach  of  each, 
and  on  the  right  cheeks  and  foreheads.  A  small  quantity  of 
blood  is  taken  off  from  these  points  in  both  parties  by  means 
of  a  stalk  of  grass.  The  blood  from  one  person  is  put  into 
a  pot  of  beer,  and  that  of  the  second  into  another ;  each  then 
drinks  the  other's  blood,  and  they  are  supposed  to  become 
perpetual  friends  or  relations.  During  the  drinking  of  the 
beer,  some  of  the  party  continue  beating  the  ground  with 
short  clubs,  and  utter  sentences  by  way  of  ratifying  the  treaty. 
The  men  belonging  to  each  then  finish  the  beer.  The  prin- 
cipals in  the  performance  of  '  kasendi '  are  henceforth  con- 
sidered blood-relations,  and  are  bound  to  disclose  to  each 
other  any  impending  evil.  They  now  presented  each  other 
with  the  most  valuable  presents  they  had  to  bestow. 

"  In  creating  these  friendships,  my  men  had  the  full  inten- 
tion of  returning ;  Mohorisi  even  married  a  wife  in  the  town 
of  Katema,  and  Pitsane  took  another  in  the  town  of  Shinte. 

"  We  reached  the  town  of  Libonta  July  27th,  and  were 
received  writh  demonstrations  of  joy  such  as  I  had  never  wit- 
nessed before.  The  women  came  forth  to  meet  us,  making 
their  dancing  gestures  and  loud  lulliloos.  Some  carried  a 
mat  and  stick  in  imitation  of  a  spear  and  shield.  Others 
rushed  forward  and  kissed  the  hands  and  cheeks  of  the  differ- 
ent persons  of  their  acquaintance  among  us,  raising  such  a 
dust  that  it  was  quite  a  relief  to  get  to  the  men  assembled 


248  LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

and  sitting  with  proper  African  decorum  in  the  kotla.  "We 
were  looked  upon  as  men  risen  from  the  dead,  for  the  most 
skillful  of  their  diviners  had  pronounced  us  to  have  perished 
long  ago.  After  many  expressions  of  joy  at  meeting,  I  arose, 
and,  thanking  them,  explained  the  causes  of  our  long  delay, 
but  left  the  report  to  be  made  by  their  own  countrymen. 
Pitsane  then  delivered  a  speech  of  upward  of  an  hour  in 
length,  giving  a  highly  flattering  picture  of  the  whole  jour- 
ney, of  the  kindness  of  the  white  men  in  general,  and  of  Mr. 
Gabriel  in  particular. 

"  The  following  day  we  observed  as  our  thanksgiving  to 
God  for  his  goodness  in  bringing  us  all  back  in  safety  to  our 
friends.  My  men  decked  themselves  out  in  their  best,  and  I 
found  that,  although  their  goods  were  finished,  they  had 
managed  to  save  suits  of  European  clothing,  which,  being 
white,  with  their  red  caps,  gave  them  rather  a  dashing  appear- 
ance. They  tried  to  walk  like  the  soldiers  they  had  seen  in 
Loanda,  and  called  themselves  my  '  braves.'  During  the  ser- 
vice they  all  sat  with  their  guns  over  their  shoulders,  and 
excited  the  unbounded  admiration  of  the  women  and  children. 
I  addressed  them  all  on  the  goodness  of  God  in  preserving  us 
from  all  the  dangers  of  strange  tribes  and  diseases.  We  had 
a  similar  service  in  the  afternoon." 

The  progress  of  the  travelers  down  the  Barotse  valley  was 
equally  pleasant.  Every  village  gave  an  ox,  and  the  people 
were  wonderfully  kind. 

"  On  reaching  Naliele  on  the  1st  of  August,  we  found  Mpo- 
lolo  in  great  affliction  on  account  of  the  death  of  his  daughter 
and  her  child.  She  had  been  lately  confined ;  and  her  father 
naturally  remembered  her  when  an  ox  was  slaughtered,  or 
when  the  tribute  of  other  food,  which  he  receives  in  lieu  of 
Sekeletu,  came  in  his  way,  and  sent  frequent  presents  to  her. 
This  moved  the  envy  of  one  of  the  Makololo  who  hated  Mpo- 
lolo,  and,  wishing  to  vex  him,  he  entered  the  daughter's  hut 
by  night,  and  strangled  both  her  and  her  child.  He  then 
tried  to  make  fire  in  the  hut  and  burn  it,  so  that  the  murder 
might  not  be  known ;  but  the  squeaking  noise  of  rubbing  the 


REJOICINGS  AT  OUR  RETURN.  249 

sticks  awakened  a  servant,  and  the  murderer  was  detected. 
Both  he  and  his  wife  were  thrown  into  the  river ;  the  latter 
having  *  known  of  her  husband's  intentions,  and  not  revealing 
them.'  She  declared  she  had  dissuaded  him  from  the  crime, 
and,  had  any  one  interposed  a  word,  she  might  have  been 
spared. 

"  My  men  were  exceedingly  delighted  with  the  cordial 
reception  we  met  with  every  where ;  but  a  source  of  annoy- 
ance was  found  where  it  was  not  expected.  Many  of  their 
wives  had  married  other  men  during  our  two  years'  absence. 
Mashuana's  wife,  who  had  borne  him  two  children,  was  among 
the  number.  He  wished  to  appear  not  to  feel  it  much,  say- 
ing, *  Why,  wives  are  as  plentiful  as  grass,  and  I  can  get 
another:  she  may  go ;'  but  he  would  add,  ' If  I  had  that  fel- 
low, I  would  open  his  ears  for  him.' 

"  As  most  of  them  had  more  wives  than  one,  I  tried  to 
console  them  by  saying  that  they  had  still  more  than  I  had, 
and  that  they  had  enough  yet ;  but  they  felt  the  reflection  to 
be  galling,  that  while  they  were  toiling,  another  had  been 
devouring  their  corn.  Some  of  their  wives  came  with  very 
young  infants  in  their  arms.  This  excited  no  discontent ;  and 
for  some  I  had  to  speak  to  the  chief  to  order  the  men,  who 
had  married  the  only  wives  some  of  my  companions  ever  had, 
to  restore  them." 

On  arriving  at  Sesheke,  Livingstone  heard  that  some  goods 
which  Dr.  Moffat  had  sent  to  him  were  on  an  island  in  the 
Zambesi,  where  the  natives  had  put  them  and  built  a  hut  over 
them  to  protect  them  from  the  weather.  These  articles  were 
found  all  safe  in  September  1855,  having  been  stored  there 
just  one  year. 

From  Sesheke,  Livingstone  went  to  Linyanti  and  found 
his  wagon  and  other  things  which  he  had  left  there  all  safe. 
A  grand  meeting  of  all  the  people  was  called  to  hear 
reports  and  receive  the  presents  sent  by  the  government  and 
merchants  of  Loanda.  Sekeletu  appeared  at  church  the  next 
Sunday  in  his  colonel's  uniform,  and  drew  more  attention 
than  the  sermon. 
13 


350  LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

Sekeletu  immediately  made  arrangements  with  an  Arab 
from  Zanzibar,  named  Ben  Habib,  to  conduct  a  fresh  party 
•with  a  load  of  ivory  to  Loanda. 

Before  starting  for  Loanda,  Ben  Habib  asked  the  daugh- 
ter of  Sebituane  in  marriage.  Her  name  was  Manchunyane 
(a  little  black)  and  her  age  was  about  twelve  years,  but 
as  Livingstone  did  not  approve  of  the  match,  Ben  Habib's 
euit  was  rejected.  Another  love  affair  resulted  differently. 

"  A  maid-servant  of  Sekeletu,  was  at  this  time  sought  in 
marriage  by  five  young  men.  Sekeletu,  happening  to  be  at 
my  wagon  when  one  of  these  preferred  his  suit,  very  coolly 
ordered  all  five  to  stand  in  a  row  before  the  young  woman, 
that  she  might  make  her  choice.  Two  refused  to  stand, 
apparently,  because  they  could  not  brook  the  idea  of  a 
repulse,  although  willing  enough  to  take  her  if  Sekeletu  had 
acceded  to  their  petition  without  reference  to  her  will.  Three 
dandified  fellows  stood  forth,  and  she  unhesitatingly  decided 
on  taking  one  who  was  really  the  best  looking.  It  was  amus- 
ing to  see  the  mortification  exhibited  on  the  black  faces  of 
the  unsuccessful  candidates,  while  the  spectators  greeted  them 
with  a  hearty  laugh." 

Livingstone  thus  sums  up  the  result  of  his  observations 
of  this  journey  to  the  West  Coast : — 

UI  believe  that  the  interior  of  this  country  presents  a 
much  more  inviting  field  for  the  philanthropist  than  does  the 
west  coast,  where  missionaries  of  the  Church  Missionary, 
United  Presbyterian,  and  other  societies  have  long  labored 
with  most  astonishing  devotedness  and  never-flagging  zeal. 
But  I  am  not  to  be  understood  as  intimating  that  any  of  the 
numerous  tribes  are  anxious  for  instruction ;  they  are  not  the 
inquiring  spirits  we  read  of  in  other  countries;  they  do  not 
desire  the  Gospel,  because  they  know  nothing  about  either  it 
or  its  benefits ;  but  there  is  no  impediment  in  the  way  of 
instruction.  Every  head  man  would  be  proud  of  a  European 
visitor  or  resident  in  his  territory,  and  there  is  perfect  secu- 
rity for  life  and  property  all  over  the  interior  country. 
_"The  great  barriers  which  have  kept  Africa  shut  are  the 


AT  LINYANTI— A  LOVE  AFFAIR.  251 

tmhealthiness  of  the  coast,  and  the  exclusive,  illiberal  dispo- 
sition of  the  border  tribes.  It  has  not  within  the  historic 
period  been  cut  into  by  deep  arms  of  the  sea,  and  only  a 
email  fringe  of  its  population  have  come  into  contact  with 
the  rest  of  mankind.  Race  has  much  to  do  in  the  present 
circumstances  of  nations ;  yet  it  is  probable  that  the  unhealthy 
coast-climate  has  reacted  on  the  people,  and  aided  both  in 
perpetuating  their  own  degradation  and  preventing  those 
more  inland  from  having  intercourse  with  the  rest  of  the 
world.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  these  obstacles  will  be  over- 
come by  the  more  rapid  means  of  locomotion  possessed  in 
the  present  age,  if  a  good  highway  can  become  available  from 
the  coast  into  the  interior." 


CHAPTER  XV. 

LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TEAVELS. 

(ACROSS  THE  CONTINENT — UNYANTI  TO  TETE.) 

HAYING  found  it  impracticable  to  open  a  carriage  path 
to  the  "West  Coast,  Livingstone  now  turned  his  attention 
in  search  of  a  route  to  the  East.  Two  courses  presented 
themselves  ;  one  to  Zanzibar,  advocated  by  the  Arabs  as  pass- 
ing through  a  peaceful  country,  and  the  other  down  the  Zam- 
besi, which  was  known  further  up  as  the  Leeambye — Zambesi 
and  Leeambye  meaning  the  same  thing,  viz.,  "  The  River." 
The  latter  route  was  recommended  by  the  Makololo,  who 
knew  all  the  country  eastward  as  far  as  the  Kafue,  from 
having  lived  in  former  times  near  the  confluence  of  that 
river  with  the  Zambesi. 

As  the  prospect  of  permanent  water  conveyance  was  good, 
Livingstone  decided  pn  going  down  the  Zambesi. 

"  On  the  3rd  of  November  we  bade  adieu  to  our  friends  at 
Linyanti,  accompanied  by  Sekeletu  and  about  two  hundred 
followers.  "We  were  all  fed  at  his  expense,  and  he  took  cat- 
tle for  this  purpose  at  every  station  we  came  to. 

"  "We  passed  through  the  patch  of  the  tsetse,  which  exists 
between  Linyanti  and  Sesheke,  by  night.  The  majority  of  the 
company  went  on  by  daylight,  in  order  to  prepare  our  beds. 
Sekeletu  and  I,  with  about  forty  young  men,  waited  outside 
the  tsetse  till  dark.  "We  then  went  forward,  and  about  ten 
o'clock  it  became  so  pitchy  dark  that  both  horses  and  men 
were  completely  blinded.  The  lightning  spread  over  the  sky, 
forming  eight  or  ten  branches  at  a  time,  in  shape  exactly  like 

252 


A  MEMORABLE  NIGHT.  253 

tliose  of  a  tree.  This,  with  great  volumes  of  sheet-lightning, 
enabled  us  at  times  to  see  the  whole  country.  The  intervals 
between  the  flashes  were  so  densely  dark  as  to  convey  the 
idea  of  stone-blindness.  The  horses  trembled,  cried  out,  and 
turned  round,  as  if  searching  for  each  other,  and  every  new 
flash  revealed  the  men  taking  different  directions,  laughing, 
and  stumbling  against  each  other.  The  thunder  was  of  that 
tremendous  loud  kind  only  to  be  heard  in  tropical  countries. 
Then  came  a  pelting  rain,  which  completed  our  confusion. 

"  After  the  intense  heat  of  the  day  we  soon  felt  miserably 
cold,  and  turned  aside  to  a  fire  we  saw  in  the  distance.  My 
clothing  having  gone  on,  I  lay  down  on  the  cold  ground, 
expecting  to  spend  a^  miserable  night ;  but  Sekeletu  kindly 
covered  me  with  his  own  blanket,  and  lay  uncovered  himself. 
I  was  much  affected  by  this  act  of  genuine  kindness. 

"While  at  Sesheke,  Sekeletu  supplied  me  with  twelve  oxen 
— three  of  which  were  accustomed  to  being  ridden  upon — 
hoes,  and  beads  to  purchase  a  canoe  when  we  should  strike 
the  Leeambye  beyond  _the  falls.  He  likewise  presented 
abundance  of  good  fresh  butter  and  honey,  and  did  every 
thing  in  his  power  to  make  me  comfortable  for  the  journey. 
I  was  entirely  dependent  on  his  generosity,  for  the  goods  I 
originally  brought  from  the  Cape  were  all  expended  by  the 
time  I  set  off  from  Linyanti  to  the  west  coast.  I  there  drew 
£70  of  my  salary,  paid  my  men  with  it,  and  purchased  goods 
for  the  return  journey  to  Linyanti.  These  being  now  all 
expended,  the  Makololo  again  fitted  me  out  and  sent  me  on. 
I  was  thus  dependent  on  their  bounty,  and  that  of  other  Afri- 
cans, for  the  means  of  going  from  Linyanti  to  Loanda,  and 
again  from  Linyanti  to  the  east  coast,  and  I  feel  deeply  grate- 
ful to  them." 

The  party  left  Sesheke  on  the  13th  of  November,  some  sail- 
ing down  the  river  in  canoes,  and  others  driving  cattle  along 
the  banks.  They  soon  came  to  the  commencement  of  the 
rapids  above  the  great  falls  of  the  Zambesi,  and  had  to  leave 
their  canoes.  Livingstone  had  often  heard  of  these  falls.. 


254  LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

The  natives  always  viewed  them  with  awe  at  a  distance,  and 
spoke  of  them  as  '  the  smoke  that  sounds.' 

The  party  proceeded  along  the  banks  of  the  river  on  foot, 
and  on  crossing  the  Lekone  were  on  an  island  called  Kalai. 
At  this  point  they  were  to  leave  the  Zambesi  for  a  while,  and 
strike  off  to  the  northeast.  Before  doing  so,  Dr.  Livingstone 
visited  the  falls ;  he  named  them  Victoria,  and  speaks  of  them 
as  the  most  wonderful  sight  he  had  Been  in  Africa. 

"  Sekeletu  intended  to  accompany  me,  but,  one  canoe  only 
having  come  instead  of  the  two  he  had  ordered,  he  resigned 
it  to  me.  After  twenty  minutes'  sail  from  Kalai  we  came  in 
.sight,  for  the  first  time,  of  the  columns  of  vapor  appropriately 
.called '  smoke,'  rising  at  a  distance  of  five  or  six  miles,  exactly 
AS  when  large  tracts  of  grass  are  burned  in  Africa.  Five  col- 
umns now  arose,  and,  bending  in  the  direction  of  the  wind, 
ihey  seemed  placed  against  a  low  ridge  covered  with  trees ; 
the  top  of  the  columns  at  this  distance  appeared  to  mingle 
with  the  clouds.  They  were  white  below,  and  higher  up 
became  dark,  so  as  to  simulate  smoke  very  closely. 

"  The  whole  scene  was  extremely  beautiful.  It  had  never 
been  seen  before  by  European  eyes;  but  scenes  so  lovely 
must  have  been  gazed  upon  by  angels  in  their  flight.  The 
only  -want  felt  is  that  of  mountains  in  the  background.  The 
falls  are  bounded  on  three  sides  by  ridges  three  or  four  hun- 
dred feet  in  height,  which  are  covered  with  forest,  with  the 
red  soil  appearing  among  the  trees. 

"  When  about  half  a  mile  from  the  falls,  I  left  the  canoe 
by  which  we  had  come  down  thus  far,  and  embarked  in  a 
lighter  one,  with  men  well  acquainted  with  the  rapids,  who, 
by  passing  down  the  centre  of  the  stream  in  the  eddies  and 
still  places  caused  by  many  jutting  rocks,  brought  me  to  an 
island  situated  in  the  middle  of  the  river,  and  on  the  edge  of 
the  lip  over  which  the  water  rolls.  In  coming  hither  there 
was  danger -of  being  swept  down  by  the  streams  which  rush- 
ed along  on  .each  side  of  the  island;  but  the  river  was  now 
low,  and  we  sailed  where  it  is  totally  impossible  to  go  when 
the  water  is  high.  But,  though  we  had  reached  the  island, 


VICTORIA  FALLS.  255 

and  were  within  a  few  yards  of  the  spot,  a  view  from  which 
would  solve  the  whole  problem,  I  believe  that  no  one  could 
perceive  where  the  vast  body  of  water  went;  it  seemed  to 
lose  itself  in  the  earth,  the  opposite  lip  of  the  fissure  into 
which  it  disappeared  being  only  80  feet  distant.  At  least  I 
did  not  comprehend  it  until,  creeping  with  awe  to  the  verge, 
I  peered  down  into  a  large  rent  which  had  been  made  from 
bank  to  bank  of  the  broad  Zambesi,  and  saw  that  a  stream  of 
a  thousand  yards  broad  leaped  down  a  hundred  feet,  and 
then  became  suddenly  compressed  into  a  space  of  fifteen  or 
twenty  yards.  The  entire  falls  are  simply  a  crack  made  in  a 
hard  basaltic  rock  from  the  right  to  the  left  bank  of  the  Zam- 
besi, and  then  prolonged  from  the  left  bank  away  through 
thirty  or  forty  miles  of  hills. 

"  In  looking  down  into  the  fissure  on  the  right  of  the  island, 
one  sees  nothing  but  a  dense  white  cloud,  which,  at  the  time 
we  visited  the  spot,  had  two  bright  rainbows  on  it.  From 
this  cloud  rushed  up  a  great  jet  of  vapor  exactly  like  steam, 
and  it  mounted  200  or  300  feet  high ;  there  condensing,  it 
changed  its  hue  to  that  of  dark  smoke,  and  came  back  in  a 
constant  shower,  which  soon  wetted  us  to  the  skin.  This 
shower  falls  chiefly  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  fissure,  and  a 
few  yards  back  from  the  lip  there  stands  a  straight  hedge  of 
evergreen  trees,  whose  leaves  are  always  wet. 

"  On  the  left  of  the  island  we  see  the  water  at  the  bottom, 
a  white  rolling  mass  moving  away  to  the  prolongation  of  the 
fissure,  which  branches  off  near  the  left  bank  of  the  river. 
A  piece  of  the  rock  has  fallen  off  a  spot  on  the  left  of  the 
island,  and  juts  out  from  the  water  below,  and  from  it  I 
judged  the  distance  which  the  water  falls  to  be  about  100 
feet.  The  walls  of  this  gigantic  crack  are  perpendicular,  and 
composed  of  one  homogeneous  mass  of  rock.  The  rock  is 
dark  brown  in  color,  except  about  ten  feet  from  the  bottom, 
which  is  discolored  by  the  annual  rise  of  the  water  to  that  or 
a  greater  height.  , 

"  On  the  left  side  of  the  island  we  have  a  good  view  of  the 
mass  of  water  which  causes  one  of  the  columns  of  vapor  to 


LIFE  AXD  TRAVELS. 

Mcend,  as  it  leaps  quite  clear  of  the  rock,  and  forms  a  thick 
unbroken  fleece  all  the  way  to  the  bottom.  Its  whiteness 
gave  the  idea  of  snow,  a  sight  1  had  not  seen  for  many  a  day. 
As  it  broke  into  (if  I  may  nse  the  term)  pieces  of  water,  all 
rushing  on  in  the  same  direction,  each  gave  off  several  rays 
of  foam,  exactly  as  bits  of  steel,  when  burned  in  oxygen  gas, 
give  off  rays  of  sparks.  The  snow-white  sheet  seemed  like 
myriads  of  small  comets  rushing  on  in  one  direction,  each  of 
which  left  behind  it  nucleus  rays  of  foam. 

0  At  three  spots  near  these  falls,  one  of  them  the  island  in 
the  middle,  on  which  we  were,  three  Batoka  chiefs  offered  up 
prayers  and  sacrifices  to  the  Barimo.  They  chose  their  places 
of  praver  within  the  sound  of  the  roar  of  the  cataract,  and 
in  sight  of  the  bright  bows  in  the  cloud.  They  must  have 
looked  upon  the  scene  with  awe.  Fear  may  have  induced 
the  selection.  The  river  itself  is  to  them  mysterious.  The 
words  of  the  canoe  song  are : — 

*TWLee»»bye!    Nobody  knows 

!  it  camusrt  whither  Ugoej."* 


On  die  90th  of  November,  Sekeletn  and  his  large 
started  on  their  return  home,  and  Livingstone,  with  a  compa- 
ny of  one  hundred  and  fourteen  men  furnished  by  Sekelet  u 
to  carry  tasks  to.  the  coast,  bade  adieu  to  the  Makololos,  and 
proceeded  northward  through  a  beautiful  country,  once 
densely  inhabited  bj  the  Batoka  tribe,  who  had  suffered 
nodi  from  former  wars  with  the  victorious  Makololo. 

On  the  24th,  they  reached  the  village  of  Moyara,  whose 
father  had  been  a  powerful  and  cruel  Batoka  chief;  but 
Moyara  sat  among  the  ruins  of  the  village,  with  four  or  five 
wives  and  very  few  people.  At  his  hamlet  a  number  of  stakes 
were  planted  in  die  ground,  and  on  them  hung  over  fifty 
ekulls  of  Matebele  whom  the  former  chief  had  put  to  death. 

On  the  2Sth  of  November,  Livingstone  entered  a  beauti- 
ful country  from  which  Sebituane  had  been  formerly  driven 
by  the  Matebele;  his  people  all  considered  it  a  perfect 
paradise.  On  the  4th  of  December  they  approached  the  first 
Tillage  of  a  portion  of  the  Batoka  whom  the  Makololo's  con- 


LIVINGSTONE'S  COURAGE  TESTED.  ~  257 

sidered  rebels,  and  were  of  course  anxious  as  to  the  way  they 
would  be  received. 

"  Remaining  at  a  distance  of  a  quarter  of  a  mile,  we  sent 
two  men  to  inform  them  who  we  were,  and  that  our  purposes 
were  peaceful.  The  head  man  came  and  spoke  civilly,  but, 
when  nearly  dark,  the  people  of  another  village  arrived  and 
behaved  very  differently.  They  began  by  trying  to  spear  a 
young  man  who  had  gone  for  water.  Then  they  approached 
us,  and  one  came  forward  howling  at  the  top  of  his  voice  in 
the  most  hideous  manner;  his  eyes  were  shot  out,  his  lips 
covered  with  foam,  and  every  muscle  in  his  frame  quivered. 
lie  came  near  to  me,  and,  having  a  small  battle-axe  in  his 
hand,  alarmed  my  men  lest  he  might  do  violence  ;  but  they 
were  afraid  to  disobey  my  previous  orders,  and  to  follow  their 
own  inclination  by  knocking  him  on  the  head.  I  felt  a  little 
alarmed  too,  but  would  not  show  fear  before  my  own  people 
or  strangers,  and  kept  a  sharp  look-out  on  the  little  battle-axe. 

"  It  seemed  to  me  a  case  of  ecstasy  or  prophetic  phrensy, 
voluntarily  produced.  I  felt  it  would  be  a  sorry  way  to  leave 
the  world,  to  get  my  head  chopped  by  a  mad  savage,  though 
that,  perhaps,  would  be  preferable  to  hydrophobia  or  delir- 
ium tremens.  Sekwebu  took  a  spear  in  his  hand,  as  if  to 
pierce  a  bit  of  leather,  but  in  reality  to  plunge  it  into  the 
man  if  he  offered  violence  to  me.  After  my  courage  had  been 
sufficiently  tested,  I  beckoned  with  the  head  to  the  civil  head 
man  to  remove  him,  and  he  did  so  by  drawing  him  aside. 
This  man  pretended  not  to  know  what  he  was  doing." 

The  party  proceeded  without  molestation,  as  the  head  man 
ran  ahead  of  them  and  quieted  the  people  who  lined  their 
path  through  a  forest,  and  soon  came  among  more  friendly 
Batokas. 

"The  farther  we  advanced,  the  more  we  found  the  country 
swarming  with  inhabitants.  Great  numbers  came  to  see  the 
white  man,  a  sight  they  had  never  beheld  before.  They 
always  brought  presents  of  maize  and  masuka.  Their  mode 
of  salutation  is  quite  singular.  They  throw  themselves  on 
their  backs  on  the  ground,  and,  rolling  from  side  to  side,  slap 


258  -          LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

the  outside  of  their  thighs  as  expressions  of  thankfulness  and 
welcome,  uttering  the  words  '  Kina  bomba.'  This  method  of 
salutation  was  to  me  very  disagreeable,  and  I  never  could  get 
reconciled  to  it.  I  called  out/  Stop,  stop ;  I  don't  want  that ;' 
but  they,  imagining  I  was  dissatisfied,  only  tumbled  about 
more  furiously,  and  slapped  their  thighs  with  greater  vigor. 
The  men  being  totally  unclothed,  this  performance  imparted 
to  my  mind  a  painful  sense  of  their  extreme  degradation." 

The  Batoka  of  the  Zambesi  are  generally  very  dark  in  color 
and  negro  like  in  appearance.  Some  who  live  on  the  higher 
regions  are  of  a  lighter  color.  Several  of  this  tribe  accompa- 
nied Livingstone  to  the  west  coast,  and  on  his  subsequent 
journeyings  on  the  Zambesi.  One  of  them,  named  Mantan- 
yani,  was  a  very  skillful  boatman,  and  was  at  first  supposed 
to  be  one  of  the  Makololo.  The  engraving,  from  a  drawing 
by  Mr.  Baines,  represents  Mantanyani  sitting  on  the  edge  of 
his  boat. 

Sunday  the  10th  was  spent  at  the  village  of  Monze,  who 
was  considered  the  chief  of  all  the  Batoka.  He  came  to  see 
Livingstone,  wrapped  in  a  large  cloth,  and  rolled  himself  about 
in  the  dust,  screaming  '  Kina  bomba.'  A  wife  accompanied 
him,  with  a  battle-axe  in  her  hand,  and  helped  her  husband 
scream.  They  were  greatly  excited,  having  never  seen  a 
white  man  before. 

On  the  14th  Livingstone  entered  a  most  beautiful  valley, 
abounding  in  large  game  and  thus  describes  his  adventures, 
and  an  elephant  hunt  by  the  natives. 

"  Finding  a  buifalo  lying  down,  I  went  to  secure  him  for 
our  food.  Three  balls  did  not  kill  him,  and,  as  he  turned 
round  as  if  for  a  charge,  we  ran  for  the  shelter  of  some  rocks. 
Before  we  gained  them,  we  found  that  three  elephants,  prob- 
ably attracted  by  the  strange  noise,  had  cut  off  our  retreat  on 
that  side ;  they,  however,  turned  short  off,  and  allowed  us  to 
gain  the  rocks.  We  then  saw  that  the  buffalo  was  moving  off 
quite  briskly,  and,  in  order  not  to  be  entirely  balked,  I  tried 
a  long  shot  at  the  last  of  the  elephants,  and  to  the  great  joy 
of  my  people,  broke  his  fore  leg.  The  young  men  soon 


BATOKA  SALUTATION. 


LIVINGSTONE'S  BOATMEX. 


A  NATIVE  ELEPHANT  HUNT.  261 

brought  him  to  a  stand,  and  one  shot  in  the  brain  dispatched 
him.  I  was  right  glad  to  see  the  joy  manifested  at  such  an 
abundant  supply  of  meat. 

"On  the  following  day,  while  my  men  were  cutting  up  the 
elephant,  great  numbers  of  the  villagers  came  to  enjoy  the 
feast.  "We  were  on  the  side  of  a  fine  green  valley,  studded 
here  and  there  with  trees,  and  cut  by  numerous  rivulets.  I 
had  retired  from  the  noise,  to  take  an  observation  among  some 
rocks  of  laminated  grit,  when  I  beheld  an  elephant  and  her 
calf  at  the  end  of  the  valley,  about  two  miles  distant.  The 
calf  was  rolling  in  the  mud,  and  the  dam  was  standing  fan- 
ning herself  with  her  great  ears.  As  I  looked  at  them 
through  my  glass,  I  saw  a  long  string  of  my  own  men  appear- 
ing on  the  other  side  of  them,  and  Sekwebu  came  and  told 
me  that  these  had  gone  off  saying,'  Our  father  will  see  to-day 
what  sort  of  men  he  has  got.'  I  then  went  higher  up  the 
Bide  of  the  valley,  in  order  to  have  a  distinct  view  of  their 
mode  of  hunting. 

"  The  goodly  beast,  totally  unconscious  of  the  approach  of 
an  enemy,  stood  for  some  time  suckling  her  young  one,  which 
seemed  about  two  years  old  ;  they  then  went  into  a  pit  con- 
taining mud,  and  smeared  themselves  all  over  with  it,  the  lit- 
tle one  frisking  about  his  dam,  flapping  his  ears  and  tossing 
his  trunk  incessantly,  in  elephantine  fashion.  She  kept  flap- 
ping her  ears  and  wagging  her  tail,  as  if  in  the  height  of 
enjoyment.  Then  began  the  piping  of  her  enemies,  which 
was  performed  by  blowing  into  a  tube,  or  the  hands  closed 
together,  as  boys  do  into  a  key.  They  call  out  to  attract  the 
animal's  attention : — 

"0  chief!  chief!  we  have  come  to  kill  you. 
0  chief!  chief!  many  more  will  die  besides  you,  etc. 
The  gods  have  said  it,"  etc.,  etc. 

"  Both  animals  expanded  their  ears  and  listened,  then  left 
their  bath  as  the  crowd  rushed  toward  them.  The  little  one 
ran  forward  toward  the  end  of  the  valley,  but,  seeing  the  men 
there,  returned  to  his  dam.  She  placed  herself  on  the  dan- 
ger side  of  her  calf,  and  passed  her  proboscis  over  it  again 


262  LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

and  again,  as  if  to  assure  it  of  safety.  She  frequently  looked 
back  to  the  men,  who  kept  up  an  incessant  shouting,  singing, 
and  piping ;  then  looked  at  her  young  one  and  ran  after  it, 
sometimes  sideways,  as  if  her  feelings  were  divided  between 
anxiety  to  protect  hor  offspring,  and  desire  to  revpnge  the 
temerity  of  her  persecutors.  The  men  kept  about  a  hundred 
yards  in  her  rear,  and  some  that  distance  from  her  flanks,  and 
continued  thus  until  she  was  obliged  to  cross  a  rivulet. 
The  time  spent  in  descending  and  getting  up  the  opposite 
bank  allowed  of  their  coming  up  to  the  edge,  and  discharg- 
ing their  spears  at  about  twenty  yards  distance.  After  the 
first  discharge  she  appeared  with  her  sides  red  with  blood, 
and,  beginning  to  flee  for  her  own  life,  seemed  to  think  no 
more  of  her  young. 

"  I  had  previously  sent  off  Sekwebu  with  orders  to  spare 
the  calf.  It  ran  very  fast,  but  neither  young  nor  old  ever 
enter  into  a  gallop  ;  their  quickest  pace  is  only  a  sharp  walk. 
Before  Sekwebu  could  reach  them,  the  calf  had  taken  refuge 
in  the  water,  and  was  killed.  The  pace  of  the  dam  gradually 
became  slower.  She  turned  with  a  shriek  of  rage,  and  made 
a  furious  charge  back  among  the  men.  They  vanished  at 
right  angles  to  her  course,  or  sideways,  and,  as  she  ran 
straight  on,  she  went  through  the  whole  party,  but  came 
near  no  one  except  a  man  who  wore  a  piece  of  cloth  on  his 
shoulders.  Bright  clothing  is  always  dangerous  in  these 
cases.  She  charged  three  or  four  times,  and,  except  in  the 
first  instance,  never  went  farther  than  one  hundred  yards. 
She  often  stood  after  she  had  crossed  a  rivulet,  and  faced  the 
men,  thougli  she  received  fresh  spears.  It  was  by  this  pro- 
cess of  spearing  and  loss  of  blood  that  she  was  killed ;  for  at 
last,  making  a  short  charge,  she  staggered  round  and  sank 
down  dead  in  a  kneeling  posture.  I  did  not  see  the  whole 
hunt,  having  been  tempted  away  by  both  sun  and  moon 
appearing  unclouded.  I  turned  from  the  spectacle  of  the 
destruction  of  noble  animals,  which  might  be  made  so  useful 
in  Africa,  with  a  feeling  of  sickness,  and  it  was  not  relieved 


'A  DESERTED  HAMLET.  265 

by  the  recollection  that  the  ivory  was  mine,  though  that  was 
the  case. 

"  As  we  approached  nearer  the  Zambesi,  the  country  became 
covered  with  broad-leaved  bushes,  pretty  thickly  planted,  and 
we  had  several  times  to  shout  to  elephants  to  get  out  of  our 
way.  At  an  open  space,  a  herd  of  buffaloes  came  trotting  up 
to  look  at  our  oxen,  and  it  was  only  by  shooting  one  that  I 
made  them  retreat.  Each  village  we  passed  furnished  us 
with  a  couple  of  men  to  take  us  on  to  the  next.  They  were 
useful  in  showing  us  the  parts  least  covered  with  jungle. 
When  we  came  near  a  village,  we  saw  men,  women,  and 
children  employed  in  weeding  their  gardens,  they  being  great 
agriculturists.  The  women  are  in  the  habit  of  piercing  the 
upper  lip,  and  gradually  enlarging  the  orifice  until  they  can 
insert  a  shell.  The  lip  then  appears  drawn  out  beyond  the 
perpendicular  of  the  nose,  and  gives  them  a  most  ungainly 
aspect.  Sekwebu  remarked,  '  These  women  want  to  make 
their  mouths  like  those  of  ducks.' 

"  We  reached  the  confluence  of  the  Loangwa  and  the  Zam- 
besi, on  the  14th  of  January  1856,  most  thankful  to  God  for 
his  great  mercies  in  helping  us  thus  far.  The  people  tell  us 
that  this  was  formerly  the  residence  of  the  Bazunga,  and 
maintain  silence  as  to  the  cause  of  their  leaving  it.  I 
walked  about  some  ruins  I  discovered,  built  of  stone,  and  found 
the  remains  of  a  church,  and  on  one  side  lay  a  broken  bell, 
with  the  letters  I.  H.  S.  and  a  cross,  but  no  date.  There 
were  no  inscriptions  on  stone,  and  the  people  could  not  tell 
what  the  Bazunga  called  their  place.  We  found  afterward  it 
was  Zumbo.  Next  morning  we  passed  along  the  bottom  of 
the  range  called  Mazanzwe,  and  found  the  ruins  of  eight  or 
ten  stone  houses. 

"  The  situation  of  Zumbo  was  admirably  well  chosen  as  a 
site  for  commerce.  The  merchants,  as  they  sat  beneath  the 
verandas  in  front  of  their  houses,  had  a  magnificent  view  of 
the  two  rivers  at  their  confluence;  of  their  church  at  the 
angle ;  and  of  all  the  gardens  which  they  had  on  both  sides 
of  the  rivers.  From  this  point  the  merchants  had  water 


266  LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

communication  in  three  directions  beyond.  Several  expedi- 
tions went  to  the  north  as  far  as  to  Cazembe,  one  of  which 
was  led  by  Dr.  Larcerda,  the  commandant  of  Tete,  who  was 
cut  off  while  there.  , 

"  On  the  morning  of  the  17th,  we  were  pleased  to  see  a 
person  coming  from  the  island  of  Shibanga  with  jacket  and 
hat  on.  He  was  quite  black,  but  had  come  from  the  Portu- 
guese settlement  at  Tete ;  and  now,  for  the  first  time,  we 
understood  that  the  Portuguese  settlement  was  on  the  other 
bank  of  the  river,  and  that  they  had  been  fighting  with  the 
natives  for  the  last  two  years.  "We  had  thus  got  into  the 
midst  of  a  Caffre  war,  without  any  particular  wish  to  be  on 
either  side.  He  advised  us  to  cross  the  river  at  once,  as 
Mpende  lived  on  this  side.  We  had  been  warned  by  the 
guides  against  him,  for  they  said  that  if  we  could  get  past 
Mpende  we  might  reach  the  white  men,  but  that  he  was 
determined  that  no  white  man  should  pass  him.  Wishing  to 
follow  this  man's  advice,  we  proposed  to  borrow  his  canoes ; 
but,  being  afraid  to  offend  the  lords  of  the  river,  he  declined. 
Finding  no  one  willing  to  aid  us  in  crossing  the  river,  we  pro- 
ceeded to  the  village  of  the  chief  Mpende. 

"  At  sunrise,  a  party  of  Mpende's  people  came  close  to  our 
encampment,  uttering  strange  cries  and  waving  some  bright 
red  substance  toward  us.  They  then  lighted  a  fire  with 
charms  in  it,  and  departed,  uttering  the  same  hideous  screams 
as  before.  This  was  intended  to  render  us  powerless,  and 
probably  also  to  frighten  us.  Ever  since  dawn,  parties  of 
armed  men  have  been  seen  collecting  from  all  quarters,  and 
numbers  passed  us  while  it  was  yet  dark.  Had  we  moved 
down  the  river  at  once,  it  would  have  been  considered  an 
indication  of  fear  or  defiance,  and  so  would  a  retreat.  I 
therefore  resolved  to  wait,  trusting  in  Him  who  has  the  hearts 
of  all  men  in  His  hands.  They  evidently  intended  to  attack 
us,  for  no  friendly  message  was  sent ;  and  when  three  of  the 
Batoka  the  night  before  entered  the  village  to  beg  food,  a 
man  went  round  about  each  of  them,  making  a  noise  like  a 
lion.  The  villagers  then  called  upon  them  to  do  homage, 


PREPARATIONS  FOR  A  BATTLE.          267 

and,  when  they  complied,  the  chief  ordered  some  chaff  to  be 
given  them,  as  if  it  had  been  food. 

"  As  we  were  now  pretty  certain  of  a  skirmish,  I  ordered 
an  ox  to  be  slaughtered,  as  this  is  a  means  which  Sebituane 
employed  for  inspiring  courage.  I  have  no  doubt  that  we 
should  have  been  victorious  ;  indeed  my  men,  who  were  far 
better  acquainted  with  fighting  than  any  of  the  people  on  the 
Zambesi,  were  rejoicing  in  the  prospect  of  securing  captives 
to  carry  the  tusks  for  them.  '  We  shall  now,'  said  they, 
*  get  both  corn  and  clothes  in  plenty.'  They  were  in  a  sad 
state,  poor  fellows ;  for  the  rains  we  had  encountered  had 
made  their  skin-clothing  drop  off  piecemeal,  and  they  were 
looked  upon  with  disgust  by  the  well-fed  and  well-clothed 
Zambesi  ans. 

'•  They  were,  however,  veterans  in  marauding,  and  the 
head  men,  instead  of  being  depressed  by  fear,  as  the  people 
of  Mpende  intended  should  be  the  case  in  using  their  charms, 
hinted  broadly  to  me  that  I  ought  to  allow  them  to  keep 
Mpende's  wives.  The  roasting  of  meat  went  on  fast  and 
furious,  and  some  of  the  young  men  said  to  me : — 

" '  You  have  seen  us  with  elephants,  but  you  don't  know 
yet  what  we  can  do  with  men.' 

"  Mpende's  whole  tribe  was  assembled  at  about  the  dis- 
tance of  half  a  mile.  As  the  country  is  covered  with  trees, 
we  did  not  see  them ;  but  every  now  and  then  a  few  came 
about  us  as  spies,  and  would  answer  no  questions.  I  handed 
a  leg  of  the  ox  to  two  of  these,  and  desired  them  to  take  it  to 
Mpende.  After  waiting  considerable  time  in  suspense,  two 
old  men  made  their  appearance,  and  said  they  had  come  to 
inquire  who  I  was. 

"I  replied,  '  I  am  Lekoa  '(an  Englishman). 

"  They  said,  '  We  don't  know  that  tribe.  We  suppose  you 
are  a  Mozunga,  the  tribe  with  which  we  have  been  fighting.' 

"As  I  was  not  yet  aware  that  the  term  Mozunga  was 
applied  to  a  Portuguese,  and  thought  they  meant  half-castes. 
I  showed  them  my  hair  and  the  skin  of  my  bosom,  and  asked 
if  the  Bazunga  had  hair  and  skin  like  mine.  As  the  Portu- 


268  LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

gucso  have  the  custom  of  cutting  the  hair  close,  and  are  also 
somewhat  darker  than  we  are,  they  answered  :— 

"  *  No ;  we  never  saw  skin  so  white  as  that : '  and  added, 
*  Ah  !  you  must  be  one  of  tribe  that  loves  the  black  men.'  I 
of  course  gladly  responded  in  the  affirmative." 

The  messengers  returned  to  Mpende,  and  after  a  long 
discussion  between  him  and  his  comrades  it  was  decided 
to  let  Livingstone  pass.  Mpende  expressed  regret  that  he 
had  not  known  Livingstone  sooner,  as  then  he  would  have 
prevented  his  enchanter  from  coming  near  him.  He  did 
every  thing  possible  to  help  on  the  travelers,  and  ordered  the 
people  to  ferry  them  across  the  river,  and  on  the  29th  of  Jan- 
uarv,  Livingstone  was  sincerely  thankful  to  find  himself  on. 
the  south  side  of  the  Zambesi.  He  sent  back  to  Mpende  as  a 
thank-offering,  a  shirt  and  one  of  his  two  spoons. 

They  now  continued  on  through  a  country  whose  inhabitants 
were  innured  to  the  slave  trade ;  here  the  character  of  the 
English,  who  were  known  to  be  opposed  to  the  system,  was 
much  extolled,  several  of  the  natives  declaring  that  the  Eng- 
lish were  men.  The  people  were  very  liberal  and  friendly  to 
the  travelers. 

"  The  real  politeness  with  which  food  is  given  by  nearly 
all  the  interior  tribes,  who  have  not  had  much  intercourse 
with  Europeans,  makes  it  a  pleasure  to  accept.  Again  and 
again  I  have  heard  an  apology  made  for  the  smallness  of  the 
present,  and  generally  they  readily  accepted  our  excuse  at 
having  nothing  to  give  in  return,  by  saying  that  they  were 
quite  aware  that  there  are  no  white  men's  goods  in  the  interior. 
When  I  had  it  in  my  power,  I  always  gave  something  really 
useful. 

"  How  some  men  can  offer  three  buttons,  or  some  other 
equally  contemptible  gift,  while  they  have  abundance  in 
their  possession,  is  to  me  unaccountable.  The  people  receive 
the  offering  with  a  degree  of  shame,  and  ladies  may  be  seen 
to  hand  it  quickly  to  the  attendants,  and,  when  they  retire, 
laugh  until  the  tears  stand  in  their  eyes,  saying  to  those  about 


•  *"  •  AFRICAN  POLITENESS— A  JSTANDmG'JOKE.  269 

them,  'Is  that  a  white  man?  then  there  are  niggards  among 
them  too.     Some  of  them  are  born  without  hearts !' 

"  One  white  trader,  having  presented  an  old  gun  to  a  chief, 
became  a  standing  joke  in  the  tribe :  '  The  white  man  who 
made  a  present  of  a  gun  that  was  new  when  his  grandfather 
was  sucking  his  great-grandmother.' " 

On  the  14th  of  February  the  party  entered  the  Mopane 
country.  Here  an  elephant  was  espied  and  the  men  went  in 
pursuit.  The  desire  for  animal  food  made  them  eager  to  kill 
him,  and  one  of  them  rushed  up  and  hamstrung  the  beast 
while  standing  still  by  a  blow  with  an  axe. 

"  Some  Banyai  elephant-hunters  happened  to  be  present 
when  my  men  were  fighting  with  him.  One  of  them  took 
out  his  snuff-box,  and  poured  out  all  its  contents  at  the  root 
of  a  tree  as  an  offering  to  the  Barimo  for  success.  As  soon 
as  the  animal  fell,  the  whole  of  my  party  engaged  in  a  wild, 
savage  dance  round  the  body,  which  quite  frightened  the  Ban- 
yai; and  he  who  made  the  offering  said  to  me : — 

"  '  I  see  you  are  traveling  with  people  who  don't  know 
how  to  pray :  I  therefore  offered  the  only  thing  I  had  in  their 
behalf,  and  the  elephant  soon  fell.' 

"  Another  Banyai  who  remained  with  me,  ran  a  little  for- 
ward, when  an  opening  in  the  trees  gave  us  a  view  of  the 
chase,  and  uttered  loud  prayers  for  ^uccess  in  the  combat. 
My  own  people,  who  are  rather  a  degraded  lot,  remarked  to 
me  as  I  came  up : — 

"  '  God  gave  it  to  us.  He  said  to  the  old  beast,  *  Go  up 
there  ;  men  are  come  who  will  kill  and  eat  you.' 

"  The  birds  of  the  tropics  have  been  described  as  generally 
wanting  in  power  of  song.  I  was  decidedly  of  opinion  that 
this  was  not  applicable  to  many  parts  in  Londa,  though  birds 
there  are  remarkably  scarce.  Here  the  chorus,  or  body  of 
song,  was  not  much  smaller  in  volume  than  it  is  in  England. 
It  was  not  so  harmonious,  and  sounded  always  as  if  the  birds 
were  singing  in  a  foreign  tongue. 

"  These  African  birds  have  not  been  wanting  in  song ;  they 
14 


270  LITIXGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

have  only  lacked  poets  to  sing  their  praises,  which  ours  have 
had  from  the  time  ot  Aristophanes  downward.  Ours  have 
both  a  classic  and  a  modern  interest  to  enhance  their  fame. 
In  hot,  dry  weather,  or  at  midday  when  the  sun  is  fierce,  all 
are  still :  let,  however,  a  good  shower  fall,  and  all  burst  forth 
at  once  into  merry  lays  and  loving  courtship.  The  early 
mornings  and  the  cool  evenings  are  their  favorite  times  for 
singing.  There  are  comparatively  few  with  gaudy  plumage, 
being  totally  unlike,  in  this  respect,  the  birds  of  the  Brazils. 
The  majority  have  decidedly  a  sober  dress,  though  collectors, 
having  generally  selected  the  gaudiest  as  the  most  valuable, 
have  conveyed  the  idea  that  the  birds  of  the  tropics  for  the 
most  part  possess  gorgeous  plumage." 

Livingstone  thus  describes  the  peculiar  habits  of  one  of  the 
African  birds : — "  Standing  by  a  tree,  a  native  looked  behind 
me  and  exclaimed,  '  There  is  the  nest  of  a  korwe.'  I  saw  a 
slit  only,  about  half  an  inch  wide  and  three  or  four  inches 
long,  in  the  slight  hollow  of  the  tree.  Thinking  the  word 
korwe  denoted  some  small  animal,  I  waited  with  interest  to 
see  what  he  would  extract;  he  broke  the  clay  which  sur- 
rounded the  slit,  put  his  arm  into  the  hole,  and  brought  out  a 
Toclcus,  or  red-leaked  hornlill,  which  he  killed.  He  informed 
me  that,  when  the  female  enters  her  nest,  she  submits  to  a 
real  confinement.  The  male  plasters  up  the  entrance,  leaving 
only  a  narrow  slit  by  which  to  feed  his  mate,  which  exactly  suits 
the  form  of  his  beak.  The  female  makes  a  nest  of  her  own 
feathers,  lays  her  eggs,  hatches  them,  and  remains  with  the 
young  till  they  are  fully  fledged.  During  all  this  time,  which 
is  stated  to  be  two  or  three  months,  the  male  continues  to  feed 
her  and  the  young  family.  The  prisoner  generally  becomes 
quite  fat,  and  is  esteemed  a  very  dainty  morsel  by  the  natives, 
while  the  poor  slave  of  a  husband  gets  so  lean  that,  on  the 
sudden  lowering  of  the  temperature  which  sometimes  happens 
after  a  fall  of  rain,  he  is  benumbed,  falls  down  and  dies. 

"  The  black  rhinoceros  is  remarkably  scarce  in  all  the  coun- 
try^ north  of  the  Zambesi.  The  white  rhinoceros  is  quite 
extinct  here,  and  will  soon  become  unknown  in  the  country 


RHINOCEROS  HUNTING.  273 

to  the  south.  It  feeds  almost  entirely  on  grasses,  and  is  of  a 
timid,  unsuspecting  disposition  :  this  renders  it  an  easy  prey, 
and  they  are  slaughtered  without  mercy  on  the  introduction 
of  fire-arms.  The  black  possesses  a  more  savage  nature,  and, 
like  the  ill-natured  in  general,  is  never  found  with  an  ounce 
of  fat  in  its  body. 

"  Mr.  Oswell  was  once  stalking  two  of  these  beasts,  and,  as 
they  came  slowly  to  him,  he,  knowing  that  there  is  but  little 
chance  of  hitting  the  small  brain  of  this  animal  by  a  shot  in 
the  head,  lay  expecting  one  of  them  to  give  his  shoulder  till 
he  was  within  a  few  yards.  The  hunter  then  thought  that  by 
making  a  rush  to  his  side  he  might  succeed  in  escaping,  but 
the  rhinoceros,  too  quick  for  that,  turned  upon  him,  and, 
though  he  discharged  his  gun  close  to  the  animal's  head,  he 
was  tossed  in  the  air.  My  friend  was  insensible  for  some 
time,  and,  on  recovering,  found  large  wounds  on  the  thigh 
and  body :  I  saw  that  on  the  former  part  still  open,  and  five 
inches  long.  The  white,  however,  is  not  always  quite  safe, 
for  one,  even  after  it  was  mortally  wounded,  attacked  Mr. 
Oswell's  horse,  and  thrust  the  horn  through  to  the  saddle,  toss- 
ing at  the  time  both  horse  and  rider.  I  once  saw  a  white 
rhinoceros  give  a  buffalo,  which  was  gazing  intently  at  myself, 
a  poke  in  the  chest,  but  it  did  not  wound  it,  and  seemed  only 
to  hint  to  get  out  of  the  way." 

The  travelers  now  came  among  the  Banyai,  a  people  whose 
government  is  a  sort  of  feudal  republicanism.  The  chief  is 
elected ;  the  candidate  is  usually  a  son  of  the  deceased  chief's 
brother  or  sister,  but  never  his  own  son  or  daughter.  At 
first,  the  successor  chosen  considers  himself  unworthy  of  the 
honor,  but  finally  accepts  the  position,  and  with  it  all  the  goods, 
wives,  and  children  of  his  predecessor,  and  the  latter  are  kept 
in  a  dependent  position  and  have  fewer  privileges  than  com- 
mon freemen. 

One  of  the  chiefs,  Monina,  near  whose  village  the  party 
encamped  at  night,  was  dissatisfied*  because  Livingstone  had 
nothing  to  give  him,  and  said  that  he  had  absolute  power  over 
the  country  in  front  of  them. 


274:  LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

"  In  the  evening  a  war  dance  was  got  up  about  a  hundred 
yards  from  our  encampment,  as  if  to  put  us  in  fear  and  force 
us  to  bring  presents.  They  beat  their  drums  furiously,  and 
occasionally  fired  a  gun.  As  this  sort  of  a  dance  is  never  got 
up  unless  there  is  an  intention  to  attack,  my  men  expected 
an  assault.  "We  sat  and  looked  at  them  for  some  time,  and 
then,  as  it  became  dark,  lay  down,  all  ready  to  give  them  a 
warm  reception.  But  an  hour  or  two  after  dark  the  dance 
ceased,  and  as  we  saw  no  one  approaching  us,  we  went  to 
sleep. 

"  During  the  night,  one  of  my  head  men,  Monahin,  was 
seen  to  get  up,  look  toward  the  village,  and  say  to  one  who 
was  half  awake : — '  Don't  you  hear  what  these  people  are  say- 
ing? Go  and  listen.'  He  then  walked  off  in  the  opposite 
direction,  and  never  returned.  It  was  probably  either  a  sud- 
den fit  of  insanity,  or,  having  gone  a  little  way  out  from  the 
camp,  he  may  have  been  carried  off  by  a  lion,  as  this  part  of 
the  country  is  full  of  them.  1  felt  his  loss  greatly,  and  spent 
three  days  in  searching  for  him.  He  was  a  sensible  and  most 
obliging  man. 

"  As  we  came  away  from  Monina's  village,  a  witch-doctor, 
who  had  been  sent  for,  arrived,  and  all  Monina's  wives  went 
forth  into  the  fields  that  morning  fasting.  There  they  would 
be  compelled  to  drink  an  infusion  of  a  plant  named  '  goho,' 
which  is  used  as  an  ordeal.  This  ceremony  is  called  l  rnuavi,' 
and  ia  performed  in  this  way.  "When  a  man  suspects  that 
any  of  his  wives  has  bewitched  him,  he  sends  for  the  witch- 
doctor, and  all  the  wives  go  forth  into  the  field,  and  remain 
fasting  till  that  person  has  made  an  infusion  of  the  plant. 
They  all  drink  it,  each  one  holding  up  her  hand  to  heaven  in 
attestation  of  her  innocency.  Those  who  vomit  it  are  con- 
sidered innocent,  while  those  whom  it  purges  are  pronounced 
guilty,  and  put  to  death  by  burning.  The  innocent  return 
to  their  homes,  and  slaughter  a  cock  as  a  thank-offering  to 
their  guardian  spirits.  The  practice  of  ordeal  is  common 
among  all  the  negro  nations  north  of  the  Zambesi. 

"  "When  in  Angola,  a  half-caste  was  pointed  out  to  me  who 


THE  ORDEAL.  275 

is  one  of  the  most  successful  merchants  in  that  country ;  and 
the  mother  of  this  gentleman,  who  was  perfectly  free,  went, 
of  her  own  accord,  all  the  way  from  Ambaca  to  Cassange,  to 
be  killed  by  the  ordeal,  her  rich  son  making  no  objection. 
The  same  custom  prevails  among  the  Barotse,  Bashubia,  and 
Batoka,  but  with  slight  variations.  The  Barotse,  for  instance, 
pour  the  medicine  down  the  throat  of  a  cock  or  of  a  dog, 
and  judge  of  the  innocence  or  guilt  of  the  person  accused 
according  to  the  vomiting  or  purging  of  the  animal.  I  hap- 
pened to  mention  to  my  own  men  the  water-test  for  witches 
formerly  in  use  in  Scotland ;  the  supposed  witch,  being  bound 
hand  and  foot,  was  thrown  into  a  pond ;  if  she  floated,  she 
was  considered  guilty,  taken  out  and  burned  ;  but  if  she  sank 
and  was  drowned,  she  was  pronounced  innocent.  The  wis- 
dom of  my  ancestors  excited  as  much  wonder  in  their  minds 
as  their  custom  did  in  mine. 

"  At  the  village  of  Nyakoba,  the  person  appointed  to  be 
our  guide,  came  and  bargained  that  his  services  should  be 
rewarded  by  a  hoe.  I  had  no  objection  to  give  it,  and 
showed  him  the  article ;  he  was  delighted  with  it,  and  went 
off  to  show  it  to  his  wife.  He  soon  afterward  returned,  and 
said  that,  though  he  was  perfectly  willing  to  go,  his  wife 
would  not  let  him.  I  said,  '  Then  bring  back  the  hoe ; '  but 
he  replied,  '  I  want  it.'  *  "Well,  go  with  us,  and  you  shall 
have  it.'  *  But  my  wife  won't  let  me.'  I  remarked  to  my 
men,  '  Did  you  ever  hear  such  a  fool  ? '  They  answered, 
4  Oh,  that  is  the  custom  of  these  parts ;  the  wives  are  the 
masters.' 

"  When  a  young  man  takes  a  liking  for  a  girl  of  another 
village,  and  the  parents  have  no  objection  to  the  match,  he  is 
obliged  to  come  and  live  at  their  village.  He  has  to  perform 
certain  services  for  the  mother-in-law,  such  as  keeping  her 
well  supplied  with  firewood ;  and  when  he  comes  into  her 
presence  he  is  obliged  to  sit  with  his  knees  in  a  bent  position, 
as  putting  out  his  feet  toward  the  old  lady  would  give  her 
great  offense.  If  he  becomes  tired  of  living  in  this  state  of 
vassalage,  and  wishes  to  return  to  his  own  fkmily,  he  is 


276  LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

obliged  to  leave  all  his  children  behind — they  belong  to  the 
•wife.  My  men  excited  the  admiration  of  the  Bambiri  who 
took  them  for  a  superior  breed  on  account  of  their  bravery 
in  elephant  hunting,  and  wished  to  get  them  as  sons-in-law 
on  the  usual  conditions,  but  none  yielded  to  the  temptation. 

"We  passed  several  villages  by  going  roundabout  ways 
through  the  forest,  and  continued  a  very  winding  course  in 
order  to  avoid  the  chief  Katolosa,  who  is  said  to  levy  large 
sums  upon  those  who  fall  into  his  hands. 

"  As  we  were  now  near  Tete,  we  were  congratulating  our- 
selves on  having  avoided  those  who  would  only  have  plagued 
us ;  but  next  morning  some  men  saw  us,  and  ran  off  to  inform 
the  neighboring  villages  of  our  passing.  A  party  imme- 
diately pursued  us,  and,  as  they  knew  we  were  within  call  of 
Katolosa,  they  threatened  to  send  information  to  that  chief 
of  our  offense,  in  passing  through  the  country  without  leave. 
"We  were  obliged  to  give  them  two  small  tusks ;  for,  had  they 
told  Katolosa  of  our  supposed  offense,  we  should,  in  all  prob- 
ability, have  lost  the  whole.  We  then  went  through  a  very 
rough,  stony  country  without  any  path. 

"  Being  pretty  well  tired  out  in  the  evening  of  the  2d  of 
March,  I  remained  at  about  eight  miles  distance  from  Tete, 
Tette,  or  Nyungwe.  My  men  asked  me  to  go  on ;  I  felt  too 
fatigued  to  proceed,  but  sent  forward  to  the  commandant  the 
letters  of  recommendation  with  which  I  had  been  favored  in 
Angola  by  the  bishop  and  others,  and  lay  down  to  rest.  Our 
food  having  been  exhausted,  my  men  had  been  subsisting  for 
some  time  on  roots  and  honey. 

"  About  two  o'clock  in  the  morning  of  the  3d,  we  were 
aroused  by  two  officers  and  a  company  of  soldiers,  who  had 
been  sent  with  the  materials  for  a  civilized  breakfast  and  a 
"  masheela  "  to  bring  me  to  Tete.  My  companions  thought 
that  we  were  captured  by  the  armed  men,  and  called  me  in 
alarm.  When  I  understood  the  errand  on  which  they  had 
come,  and  had  partaken  of  a  good  breakfast,  though  I  had 
just  before  been  too  tired  to  sleep,  all  my  fatigue  vanished. 
It  was  the  most  refreshing  breakfast  I  ever  partook  of,  and  I 


ARRIVAL  AT  TETE.  277 

walked  the  last  eight  miles  without  the  least  feeling  of  wea- 
riness, although  the  path  was  so  rough  that  one  of  the  officers 
remarked  to  me,  '  This  is  enough  to  tear  a  man's  life  out  of 
him.'  The  pleasure  experienced  in  partaking  of  that  break- 
fast was  only  equaled  by  the  enjoyment  of  Mr.  Gabriel's  bed 
on  my  arrival  at  Lcanda.  It  was  also  enhanced  by  the  news 
that  Sebastopo!  had  fallen,  and  the  war  was  finished." 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 
(ACROSS  THE  CONTINENT — FKOM  TETE  TO  THE  EAST  COAST.) 

B~K.  LIVINGSTONE  was  most  kindly  received  at  Tete 
by  the  commandant,  Major  Sicard,  who  did  everything 
in  his  power  to  restore  him  from  his  emaciated  condition,  and 
invited  him  to  remain  for  a  month,  when  it  would  be  healthier 
down  the  Zambesi.  On  the  day  of  his  arrival  he  was  visited 
by  all  the  gentlemen  of  the  village,  both  white  and  colored. 

"  The  village  of  Tete  is  built  on  a  long  slope  down  to  the 
river,  the  fort  being  close  to  the  water.  There  are  about 
thirty  European  houses ;  the  rest  are  native,  and  of  wattle  and 
daub.  A  wall  about  ten  feet  high  is  intended  to  inclose  the 
village,  but  most  of  the  native  inhabitants  prefer  to  live  on 
different  spots  outside.  There  are  about  twelve  hundred  huts 
in  all,  which  with  European  households  would  give  a  popula- 
tion of  about  four  thousand  five  hundred  souls.  Only  a  small 
proportion  of  these,  however,  live  on  the  spot ;  the  majority 
are  engaged  in  agricultural  operations  in  the  adjacent  country. 
Generally  there  are  not  more  than  two  thousand  people  resi- 
dent, for,  compared  with  what  it  was,  Tete  is  now  a  ruin. 
The  number  of  Portuguese  is  very  small ;  if  we  exclude  the 
military,  it  is  under  twenty.  In  former  times,  considerable 
quantities  of  grain,  as  wheat,  millet,  and  maize,  were  exported ; 
also  coffee,  sugar,  oil,  and  indigo,  besides  gold-dust  and  ivory. 
The  gold-dust  was  procured  by  washing  at  various  points  on 
the  north,  south,  and  west  of  Tete." 

The  fort  at  Tete  has  proved  the  salvation  of  the  power  of 

278 


TETE— A  JESUIT  MISSION.  279 

the  Portuguese  in  that  section.  On  one  occasion  its  com- 
mandant armed  the  whole  body  of  slaves  and  marched  against 
the  stockade  of  a  man  named  Nyaude,  who  had  established 
himself  a  short  distance  up  the  Zambesi,  and  repudiated  the 
Portuguese  authority. 

Nyaude,  in  the  meantime,  dispatched  a  strong  party  to 
attack  Tete,  which  \vas  undefended  except  by  a  few  soldiers 
in  the  fort.  The  force  plundered  and  burned  nearly  the 
whole  town,  excepting  the  fort,  and  the  church  into  which  the 
the  women  and  children  all  fled.  Here  they  were  safe,  for  the 
natives  of  this  region  never  attack  a  church.  JSTyaude  kept 
the  Portuguese  shut  up  in  their  fort  for  two  years.  Living- 
stone was  approaching  Tete  just  after  peace  had  been  estab- 
lished, and  the  Portuguese  had  not  deemed  it  possible  that 
any  European  could  come  safely  through  the  tribes  at  that 
time. 

As  Livingstone  was  to  leave  most  of  his  men  at  Tete,  the 
commandant  gave  them  land  to  cultivate,  and  allowed  them 
to  hunt  elephants  with  his  servants.  He  also  supplied  their 
wants  abundantly.  They  were  delighted  at  the  liberality 
shown  them,  and  engaged  successfully  in  Imnting  and  agri- 
culture. 

While  at  Tete,  Livingstone  went  about  ten  miles  to  visit 
the  former  site  of  a  Jesuit  settlement.  He  was  accompanied 
by  an  officer,  whose  great-grandfather,  when  a  captain  at  Tete, 
received  sealed  orders  to  be  opened  only  on  a  certain  da}*. 

""When  that  day  arrived,  he  found  the  command  to  go  with 
his  company,  seize  all  the  Jesuits  of  this  establishment,  and 
march  them  to  the  coast.  The  riches  of  the  fraternity,  which 
were  immense,  were  taken  possession  of  by  the  state.  Large 
quantities  of  gold  had  often  been  sent  to  their  superiors  at 
Goa,  inclosed  in  images.  The  Jesuits  here  do  not  seem  to 
have  possessed  the  sympathies  of  the  people  as  their  brethren 
in  Angola  did.  They  were  keen  traders  in  ivory  and  gold- 
dust.  All  praise  their  industry.  Whatever  they  did,  they 
did  with  all  their  might,  and  probably  their  successful  labors 
in  securing  the  chief  part  of  the  trade  to  themselves  had 


230  LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

excited  the  envy  of  the  laity.  None  of  the  natives  here  can 
read ;  and  though  the  Jesuits  are  said  to  have  translated  some 
of  the  prayers  into  the  language  of  the  country,  I  was  unable 
to  obtain  a  copy. 

"  The  only  religious  teachers  now  in  this  part  of  the  coun- 
try are  two  gentlemen  of  color,  natives  of  Goa.  There  is  but 
a  single  school  in  Tete,  and  it  is  attended  only  by  the  native 
Portuguese  children,  who  are  tajight  to  read  and  write.  The 
black  population  is  totally  uncared  for.  The  soldiers  are 
marched  every  Sunday  to  hear  mass,  and  but  feAV  others 
attend  church.  During  the  period  of  my  stay,  a  kind  of  the- 
atrical representation  of  our  Savior's  passion  and  resurrection 
was  performed.  The  images  and  other  paraphernalia  used 
were  of  great  value,  but  the  present  riches  of  the  Church  arc 
nothing  to  what  it  once  possessed." 

Livingstone  had  made  preparation  to  leave  Tcts  3s»«*'y  la 
April,  but  on  the  4th  he  and  the  commandant  were  t^kga 
down  by  a  fever,  which  caused  a  further  delay. 

"  A  Portuguese  lady  who  had  come  with  her  brother  frorn 
Lisbon,  having  been  suffering  for  some  days  from  a  severe 
attack  of  fever,  died  about  three  o'clock  in  the  morrrn^  of 
the  20th  of  April.  I  attended  the  funeral  in  the  evening, 
and  was  struck  by  the  custom  of  the  country.  A  number  of 
slaves  preceded  us,  and  fired  off  many  rounds  of  gunpowder 
in  front  of  the  body.  When  a  person  of  much  popularity  is 
buried,  all  the  surrounding  chiefs  send  deputations  to  fire 
over  the  grave.  On  one  occasion  at  Tete,  more  than  thirty 
barrels  of  gunpowder  were  expended.  Early  in  the  morning 
of  the  21st,  the  slaves  of  the  deceased  lady's  brother  went 
round  the  village  making  a  lamentation,  and  drums  were 
beaten  all  day,  as  they  are  at  such  times  among  the  heathen." 

Livingstone  left  Tete  on  the  22d  of  April.  He  selected 
sixteen  of  his  men  who  could  manage  canoes,  to  convey  him 
down  the  river.  The  commandant  provided  for  the  journey 
abundantly.  Three  large  canoes  were  procured ;  they  were 
strongly  built,  and  the  men  sat  at  the  stern  when  paddling. 


DOWN  THE  ZAMBESI— AT  SENNA.  281 

A  little  shed  was  erected  over  a  part  of  the  canoe  in  which 
Livingstone  went,  rendering  it  quite  comfortable. 

On  the  24th,  they  passed  through  the  gorge  of  Lupata. 
Its  western  side  rises  perpendicular  from  the  water  to  a 
height  of  about  six  hundred  feet.  The  stream  here  is  about 
three  hundred  yards  wide,  and  said  to  be  very  deep.  Below 
the  gorge,  the  river  spreads  out  to  a  breadth  of  more  than  two 
miles  and  is  full  of  islands. 

On  the  27th,  Livingstone  reached  Senna,  about  twenty- 
four  hours  sail  from  Tete.  Here  everything  was  in  a  state 
of  stagnation  and  ruin.  "  The  Landeens  visit  the  village 
periodically,  and  levy  fines  upon  the  inhabitants,  as  they 
consider  the  Portuguese  a  conquered  tribe,  and  very  rarely 
.  does  a  native  come  to  trade.  When  I  was  there,  a  party  of 
Kisaka's  people  were  ravaging  the  fine  country  on  the  oppo- 
site shore.  They  came  down  with  the  prisoners  they  had 
captured,  and  forthwith  the  half-castes  of  Senna  went  over  to 
buy  slaves. 

"  Encouraged  by  this,  Kisaka's  people  came  over  into 
Senna,  fully  armed  and  beating  their  drums,  and  were 
received  into  the  house  of  a  native  Portuguese.  They  had 
the  village  at  their  mercy,  yet  could  have  been  driven  off  by 
half  a  dozen  policeman.  The  commandant  could  only  look 
on  with  bitter  sorrow.  He  had  soldiers  it  is  true,  but  the 
native  militia  never  think  of  standing  fight,  but  invariably 
run  away,  and  leave  their  officers  to  be  killed. 

"The  common  soldiers  sent  out  from  Portugal  received 
some  pay  in  calico.  They  all  marry  native  women,  and,  the 
soil  being  very  fertile,  the  wives  find  but  little  difficulty  in 
supporting  their  husbands.  There  is  no  direct  trade  with 
Portugal.  A  considerable  number  of  Banians,  or  natives  of 
India,  come  annually  in  small  vessels  with  cargoes  of  English 
and  Indian  goods  from  Bombay. 

"  On  the  llth  of  May,  the  whole  of  the  inhabitants  of 
Senna,  with  the  commandant,  accompanied  us  to  the  boats. 
A  venerable  old  man,  son  of  a  judge,  said  they  were  in  much 
sorrow  on  account  of  the  miserable  state  of  decay  into  which 


282  LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

they  had  sunk,  and  of  the  insolent  conduct  of  the  people  of 
Kisaka  now  in  the  village.  We  were  abundantly  supplied 
with  provisions  hy  the  commandant  and  Senhor  Ferrao,  and 
sailed  pleasantly  down  the  broad  river.  About  thirty  miles 
below  Senna  we  passed  the  mouth  of  the  River  Zangwe  on 
our  right,  which  farther  up  goes  by  the  name  of  Pungwe ; 
and  about  five  miles  farther  on  our  left,  close  to  the  end  of  a 
low  rano-e  into  which  Morumbala  merges,  we  crossed  the 
mouth  of  the  Shire,  which  seemed  to  be  about  two  hundred 
yards  broad. 

"  A  little  inland  from  the  confluence  there  is  another  rebel 
stockade,  which  was  attacked  by  Ensign  Eebeiro  with  three 
European  soldiers,  and  captured ;  they  disarmed  the  rebels  and 
threw  the  guns  into  the  water.  This  ensign  and  Miranda 
volunteered  to  disperse  the  people  of  Kisaka  who  were  riding 
rough  shod  over  the  inhabitants  of  Senna  ;  but  the  offer  was 
declined,  the  few  real  Portuguese  fearing  the  disloyal  half- 
castes  among  whom  they  dwelt.  Slavery  and  immorality 
have  here  done  their  work  ;  nowhere  else  does  the  European 
name  stand  at  so  low  an  ebb  ;  but  what  can  be  expected  ? 

"  Few  Portuguese  women  are  ever  taken  to  the  colonies,  and 
here  I  did  not  observe  that  honorable  regard  for  the  offspring 
which  I  noticed  in  Angola.  The  son  of  a  late  governor  of 
Tete  was  pointed  out  to  me  in  the  condition  and  habit  of  a 
slave.  There  is  neither  priest  nor  school  at  Senna,  though 
there  are  ruins  of  churches  and  convents. 

"A  few  miles  beyond  the  Shire.we  left  the  hills  entirely, 
and  sailed  between  extensive  flats.  The  banks  seen  in  the 
distance  are  covered  with  trees.  We  slept  on  a  large  inhab- 
ited island,  and  then  came  to  the  entrance  of  the  Eiver  Mutu  ; 
the  point  of  departure  is  called  Mazaro,  or  'mouth  of  the 
Mutu.' 

"The  Zambesi  at  Mazaro  is  a  magnificent  river,  more  than 
half  a  mile  wide,  and  without  islands.  The  opposite  bank  is 
covered  with  forests  of  fine  timber;  but  the  delta  which 
begins  here  is,  only  an  immense  flat,  covered  with  high,  coarse 


DOWN  THE  MUTU.  283 

grass  and  reeds,  with  here  and  there  a  few  mango  and  cocoa- 
nut  trees. 

"I  was  seized  \>y  a  severe  tertian  fever  at  Mazaro,  but  went 
along  the  right  bank  of  the  Mutu  to  the  N.  N.  E.  and  E.  for 
about  fifteen  miles.  "We  then  found  that  it  was  made  navi- 
gable by  a  river  called  the  Pangazi,  which  comes  into  it  from 
the  north.  Another  river,  flowing  from  the  same  direction, 
called  the  Luare,  swells  it  still  more ;  and  last  of  all,  the  Lik- 
uare,  with  the  tide,  make  up  the  river  of  Kilimane.  The 
Mutu  at  Mazaro  is  simply  a  connecting  link,  such  as  is  so 
often  seen  in  Africa,  and  neither  its  flow  nor  stoppage  affects 
the  river  of  Kilimane.  At  the  point  of  departure,  it  was  only 
ten  or  twelve  yards  broad,  shallow,  and  filled  with  aquatic 
plants.  Trees  and  reeds  along  the  bank  overhang  it  so  much, 
that,  though  we  had  brought  canoes  and  a  boat  from  Tete,  we 
were  unable  to  enter  the  Mutu  with  them,  and  left  them  at 
Mazaro.  During  most  of  the  year  this  part  of  the  Mutu  is 
dry,  and  we  were  even  now  obliged  to  carry  all  our  luggage 
by  land  for  about  fifteen  miles. 

As  Kilimane  is  called,  in  all  the  Portuguese  documents,  the 
capital  of  the  rivers  of  Senna,  it  seemed  strange  to  me  that 
the  capital  should  be  built  at  a  point  where  there  was  no 
direct  water  conveyance  to  the  magnificent  river  whose  name 
it  bore ;  and,  on  inquiry,  I  was  informed  that  the  whole  of 
the  Mutu  was  large  in  days  of  yore,  and  admitted  of  the, 
free  passage  of  great  launches  from  Kilimane  all  the  year 
round,  but  that  now  this  part  of  the  Mutu  had  been  filled,  up.. 

"  At  Interra  we  met  Senhor  Asevedo,  a  man  who  is  well 
known  by  all  who  visited  Kilimane,  and  who  was  presented 
with  a  gold  chronometer  watch  by  the  Admiralty  for  his 
attentions  to  English  officers.  He  immediately  tendered,  his 
large  sailing  launch,  which  had  a  house  in  the  stern.  This 
was  greatly  in  my  favor,  for  it  anchored  in  the  middle  of  the 
stream,  and  gave  me  some  rest  from  the  musquitoes,  which  in 
the  whole  delta  are  something  frightful. 

"  Sailing  comfortably  in  this  commodious  launch  along  the 
river  of  Kilimane,  we  reached  that  village  on  the  20th  o£ 


28-t  LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

May,  1S56,  which  wanted  only  a  few  days  of  being  four  years 
since  I  started  from  Cape  Town.  Here  I  was  received  into 
the  house  of  Colonel  G'aldino  Jose  Nunes,  one  of  the  best 
men  in  the  country.  I  had  been  three  years  without  hearing 
from  my  family ;  letters  having  frequently  been  sent,  but 
somehow  or  other,  with  but  a  single  exception,  they  never 
reached  me.  I  received,  however,  a  letter  from  Admiral  Trot- 
ter, conveying  information  of  their  welfare,  and  some  news- 
papers, which  were  a  treat  indeed. 

"  Eight  of  my  men  begged  to  be  allowed  to  come  as  far  as 
Kilimane,  and,  thinking  that  they  would  there  see  the  ocean, 
I  consented  to  their  coming,  though  the  food  was  so  scarce  in 
consequence  of  a  dearth  that  they  were  compelled  to  suffer 
some  hunger.  They  would  fain  have  come  farther ;  for  when 
Sekeletu  parted  with  them,  his  orders  were  that  none  of  them 
should  turn  until  they  had  reached  Ma  Robert  and  brought 
her  back  with  them.  On  my  explaining  the  difficulty  of  cross- 
ing the  sea,  he  said,  '  "Wherever  you  lead,  they  must  follow.' 

"  As  I  did  not  know  well  how  I  should  get  home  myself,  I 
advised  them  to  go  back  to  Tete,  where  food  was  abundant, 
and  there  await  my  return.  I  bought  a  quantity  of  calico  and 
brass  wire  with  ten  of  the  smaller  tusks  which  we  had  in  our 
charge,  and  sent  the  former  back  as  clothing  to  those  who 
remained  at  Tete.  As  there  were  still  twenty  tusks  left,  I 
deposited  them  writh  Colonel  Nunes,  that,  in  the  event  of  any 
thing  happening  to  prevent  my  return,  the  impression  might 
not  be  produced  in  the  country  that  I  had  made  away  with 
Sekeletu's  ivory.  I  instructed  Colonel  Nunes,  in  case  of  my 
death,  to  sell  the  tusks  and  deliver  the  proceeds  to  my  men ; 
but  I  intended,  if  my  life  should  be  prolonged,  to  purchase 
the  goods  ordered  by  Sekeletu  in  England  with  my  own 
money,  and  pay  myself  on  my  return  out  of  the  price  of  the 
ivory.  This  I  explained  to  the  men  fully,  and  they,  under- 
standing the  matter,  replied,  l  Nay,  father,  you  wrill  not  die ; 
you  will  return  to  take  us  back  to  Sekeletu.'  They  promised 
to  wait  till  I  carne  back,  and,  on  my  part,  I  assured  them  that 
nothing  but  death  would  prevent  my  return." 


ARRIVAL  AT  THE  EAST  COAST.  285 

Having  reached  the  East  Coast,  Livingstone  thus  graphi- 
cally sums  up  the  noble  and  unselfish  ends  he  had  in  view 
in  his  late  journeyings  across  the  continent. 

"  As  far  as  I  am  concerned,  the  opening  of  the  new  central 
country  is  a  matter  for  congratulation  only  in  so  far  as  it 
opens  up  a  prospect  for  the  elevation  of  the  inhabitants.  As 
I  have  elsewhere  remarked,  I  view  the  end  of  the  geographi- 
cal feat  as  the  beginning  of  the  missionary  enterprise.  I  take 
the  latter  term  in  its  most  extended  signification,  and  include 
every  effort  made  for  the  amelioration  of  our  race,  the  promo~ 
tion  of  all  those  means  by  which  God  in  His  providence  is 
working,  and  bringing  all  His  dealings  with  man  to  a  glori- 
ous consummation.  Each  man  in  his  sphere,  either  knowingly 
or  unwittingly,  is  performing  the  will  of  our  Father  in  heaven. 
Men  of  science,  searching  after  hidden  truths,  which,  when 
discovered,  will,  like  the  electric  telegraph,  bind  men  more 
closely  together — soldiers  battling  for  the  right  against  tyr- 
anny— sailors  rescuing  the  victims  of  oppression  from  the 
grasp  of  the  heartless  men-stealers — merchants  teaching  the 
nations  lessons  of  mutual  dependence — and  many  others,  as 
well  as  missionaries,  all  work  in  the  same  direction,  and  all 
efforts  are  overruled  for  one  glorious  end." 

The  village  of  Kilimane  is  situated  on  a  great  mud  bank, 
surrounded  by  extensive  swamps  and  rice  grounds.  The 
houses  are  well  built  of  brick  and  lime,  the  latter  brought 
from  Mozambique.  The  houses,  however,  rest  on  an  uncer- 
tain foundation,  for,  by  digging  down  two  or  three  feet  in 
any  part  of  the  village,  water  is  reached ;  hence  the  walls  of 
houses  are  apt  to  settle.  Of  course  the  place  is  very  unhealthy. 
A  man  with  plethoric  habits  is  sure  to  be  sick  with  fever. 
Quinine  is  the  great  febrile  remedy  in  Africa,  and  is  indispen- 
sable to  all  travelers. 

1  After  waiting  six  weeks  at  this  unhealthy  spot,  in  which, 
by  the  kind  attentions  of  Colonel  Nunes  and  his  nephew, 
I  partially  recovered  from  my  tertian,  II.M.  brig  '  Frolic,' 
arrived  off  Kilimane.  As  the  village  is  twelve  miles  from  the 
bar,  and  the  weather  was  rough,  she  was  at  anchor  ten  days 


286  LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

before  we  knew  of  her  presence  about  seven  miles  from  the 
entrance  to  the  port.  She  brought  abundant  supplies  for  all 
my  need,  and  £150,  to  pay  my  passage  home,  from  my  kind 
friend  Mr.  Thompson,  the  Society's  agent  at  the  Cape.  The 
admiral  at  the  Cape  kindly  sent  an  offer  of  a  passage  to  the 
Mauritius,  which  I  thankfully  accepted. 

"  Sekwebu  and  one  attendant  alone  remained  with  me  now. 
He  was  very  intelligent,  and  had  been  of  the  greatest  service 
to  me ;  indeed,  but  for  his  good  sense,  tact,  and  command  of 
the  language  of  the  tribes  through  which  we  passed,  I  believe 
we  should  scarcely  have  succeeded  in  reaching  the  coast.  I 
naturally  felt  grateful  to  him  ;  and  as  his  chief  wished  all  my 
companions  to  go  to  England  with  me,  and  would  probably 
be  disappointed  if  none  went,  I  thought  it  would  be  beneficial 
for  him  to  see  the  effects  of  civilization,  and  report  them  to 
his  countrymen ;  I  wished  also  to  make  some  return  for  his 
very  important  services.  The  only  other  one  who  remained 
begged  so  hard  to  come  on  board  ship,  that  I  greatly  regret- 
ted that  the  expense  prevented  my  acceding  to  his  wish  to 
visit  England.  I  said  to  him, '  You  will  die  if  you  go  to  such 
a  cold  country  as  mine.'  '  That  is  nothing,'  he  reiterated ; 
*  let  me.  die  at  your  feet.' 

"  When  we  parted  from  our  friends  at  Kilimane,  the  sea  on 
the  bar  was  frightful  even  to  seamen.  This  was  the  first 
time  Sekwebu  had  seen  the  sea.  Captain  Peyton  had  sent 
two  boats  in  case  of  accident.  The  waves  were  so  high  that, 
when  the  cutter  was  in  one  trough,  and  we  in  the  pinnace  in 
another,  her  mast  was  hid.  We  then  mounted  to  the  crest 
of  the  wave,  rushed  down  the  slope,  and  struck  the  water 
again  with  a  blow  which  felt  as  if  she  had  struck  the  bottom. 
Boats  must  be  singularly  well  constructed  to  be  able  to  stand 
these  shocks.  Three  breakers  swept  over  us.  The  men  lift 
up  their  oars,  and  a  wave  comes  sweeping  over  all,  giving 
the  impression  that  the  boat  is  going  down,  but  she  only 
goes  beneath  the  top  of  the  wave,  comes  out  on  the  other 
side,  and  swings  down  the  slope,  and  a  man  bales  out  the 
water  with  a  bucket  Poor  Sekwebu  looked  at  me  when 


ON  THE  FROLIC— SEKWEBU'S  FATE.  237 

these  terrible  seas  broke  over,  and  said,  '  Is  this  the  way  you 
go  ?  Is  this  the  way  you  go  ? '  I  smiled  and  said,  '  Yes  ; 
don't  you  see  it  is  ? '  and  tried  to  encourage  him.  He  was 
acquainted  with  canoes,  but  never  had  seen  aught  like  this. 

"  When  we  reached  the  ship — a  fine,  large  brig  of  sixteen 
guns  and  a  crew  of  one  hundred  and  thirty — she  was  rolling 
so  that  we  could  see  a  part  of  her  bottom.  It  was  quite 
impossible  for  landsmen  to  catch  the  ropes  and  climb  up,  so 
a  chair  was  sent  down,  and  we  were  hoisted  in  as  ladies  usu- 
ally are,  and  received  so  hearty  an  English  welcome  from 
Captain  Peyton  and  all  on  board,  that  I  felt  myself  at  once  at 
home  in  every  thing  except  my  own  mother  tongue.  I 
seemed  to  know  the  language  perfectly,  but  the  words  I 
wanted  would  not  come  at  my  call.  "When  I  left  England  I 
had  no  intention  of  returning,  and  directed  my  attention 
earnestly  to  the  languages  of  Africa,  paying  none  to  English 
composition. 

"  We  left  Kilimane  on  the  12th  of  July,  and  reached  the 
Mauritius  on  the  12th  of  August,  1856.  Sekwebu  was  pick- 
ing up  English,  and  becoming  a  favorite  with  both  men  and 
officers.  He  seemed  a  little  bewildered,  every  thing  on  board 
a  man-of-war  being  so  new  and  strange ;  but  he  remarked  to 
me  several  times,  '  Your  countrymen  are  very  agreeable,'  and, 
1  What  a  strange  country  this  is  all  water  together ! '  He 
also  said  that  he  now  understood  why  I  used  the  sextant. 
When  we  reached  the  Mauritius  a  steamer  came  out  to  tow 
us  into  the  harbor.  The  constant  strain  on  his  untutored 
mind  seemed  now  to  reach  a  climax,  for  during  the  night  ho 
became  insane.  I  thought  at  first  he  was  intoxicated.  lie 
had  descended  into  a  boat,  and,  when  I  attempted  to  go  down 
and  bring  him  into  the  ship,  he  ran  to  the  stem  and  said, 
'No!  no!  it  is  enough  that  I  die  alone.  You  must  not 
perish ;  if  you  come,  I  shall  throw  myself  into  the  water.' 

"Perceiving  that  his  mind  was  affected,  I  said,  'Xow, 
Sekwebu,  we  are  going  to  Ma  Robert.'     This  struck  a  chord 
in  his  bosom,  and  he  said,  t  Oh  yes ;  where  is  she,  and  where 
is  Robert  ? '  and  seemed  to  recover. 
15 


288  LIVINGSTONE'S  LITE  AND  TRAVELS. 

"  The  officers  proposed  to  secure  him  by  putting  him  in 
irons  ;  but,  being  a  gentleman  in  his  own  country,  I  objected, 
knowing  that  the  insane  often  retain  an  impression  of  ill 
treatment,  and  I  could  not  bear  to  have  it  said  in  Sekeletu's 
country  that  I  liad  chained  one  of  his  principal  men  as  they 
had  seen  slaves  treated.  I  tried  to  get  him  on  shore  by  day, 
but  he  refused.  In  the  evening  a  fresh  accession  of  insanity 
occurred ;  he  tried  to  spear  one  of  the  crew,  then  leaped 
overboard,  and,  though  he  could  swim  well,  pulled  himself 
down  hand  under  hand  by  the  chain  cable.  We  never  found 
the  body  of  poor  Sekwebu. 

"At  the  Mauritius  I  was  most  hospitably  received  by 
Major  General  C.  M.  Hay.  In  November  I  came  up  the 
Red  Sea ;  escaped  the  danger  of  shipwreck  through  the  admi- 
rable management  of  Captain  Powell  of  the  Peninsular  and 
Oriental  Steam  Company's  ship  '  Candia/  and  on  the  12th 
of  December  was  once  more  in  dear  old  England.  The 
Company  most  liberally  refunded  my  passage-money.  I 
have  not  mentioned  half  the  favors  bestowed,  but  I  may  just 
add  that  no  one  has  cause  for  more  abundant  gratitude  to  his 
fellow-men  and  to  his  Maker  than  I  have ;  and  may  God 
grant  that  the  effect  on  my  mind  be  such  that  I  may  be  more 
humbly  devoted  to  the  service  of  the  Author  of  all  our 
mercies  1 " 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

(SECOND  EXPEDITION  TO  AFRICA.) 

LIVINGSTONE     remained    in    England    only    sixteen 
months.    Byron,  more  poetically  than  truthfully,  sang  of 
England: — 

"  Where'er  I  roam,  whatever  lands  to  see, 
My  heart  untraveled  still  returns  to  thee." 

Of  Livingstone  we  may  truly  say,  his  traveled  heart 
found  his  true  home  in  Africa.  Much  of  the  short  time  he 
remained  in  England  was  spent  in  the  preparation  of  his  first 
book  of  travels.  The  publication  of  this  book,  from  which 
we  have  made  such  copious  extracts,  excited  great  public 
interest  in  his  researches.  He  was  no  longer  considered  a 
poor  missionary,  but  a  public  benefactor ;  one  who  had  dis- 
pelled darkness  from  benighted  Africa,  and  opened  new 
channels  for  English  commerce. 

Previous  to  the  publication  of  his  travels,  the  idea  prevailed 
that  the  interior  of  Africa  consisted  of  vast  sandy  deserts, 
into  which  rivers  ran  and  were  lost.  Livingstone  astounded 
the  world  by  describing  the  south  intertropical  part  of 
the  continent — the  region  extending  from  Lake  Ngami 
north  and  east  up  to  the  equator  —  as  well  watered, 
abounding  with  large  tracts  of  very  fertile  soil,  large  forests, 
extensive  grassy  plains,  and  as  being  quite  thickly  populated. 

The  commonly  accepted  theory  of  a  great  desert  of  burn- 
ing sand,  was  found  to  be  fabulous,  and  the  country  really 
abounded  in  fresh-water  lakes  and  rivers,  in  this  respect 

289 


290  LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

resembling  North  America ;  while  in  its  hot,  humid  lowlands 
and  jungles,  and  cool  highland  plains  it  resembled  India. 

On  his  journey  across  the  continent  in  order  to  find  a  path 
to  the  sea  by  which  the  rich  products  of  the  interior  might 
find  an  outlet  and  thus  lawful  commerce  be  introduced 
as  a  forerunner  of  Christian  missions,  he  noticed  with  pecu- 
liar interest  the  climate,  soil,  productions,  the  inhabitants, 
their  diseases  and  customs.  This  was  the  first  observation 
of  any  white  man  in  some  parts  of  the  route,  and  no  wonder 
that  it  excited  and  filled  his  whole  soul.  He,  however,  never 
lost  sight  of  the  great  object  of  his  exploration,  the  suppres- 
sion of  the  slave  trade  and  the  introduction  of  a  Christian 
civilization,  and  he  was  delighted  to  find  on  the  West  Coast 
so  much  evidence  of  the  beneficial  influence  of  what  was 
known  as  Lord  Palmerston's  policy.  He  could  discern  its 
•workings  hundreds  of  miles  back  in  the  interior.  Piracy  had 
been  abolished,  and  the  slave  trade  so  far  suppressed  that 
even  the  Portuguese,  who  held  nominal  possession  of  the 
country,  and  had  themselves  been  slave-traders,  spoke  of  it 
as  a  thing  of  the  past. 

Commerce  had  increased  from  an  annual  total  or  £20,000 
in  ivory  and  gold-dust  to  between  two  and  three  millions, 
of  which  one  million  was  in  palm  oil.  Over  twenty  missions 
had  been  established,  with  schools  in  which  more  than  twelve 
hundred  pupils  were  taught.  Life  and  property  had  been 
rendered  comparatively  secure,  and  peace  imparted  to  mil- 
lions of  people  in  the  interior. 

On  the  East  Coast,  Livingstone  had  found  an  entirely 
different  state  of  affairs.  Notwithstanding  the  efforts  of  Her 
Majesty's  cruisers,  this  region  was  yet  sealed  up  against  both 
commerce  and  missions.  The  trade  continued  to  be  only  in 
ivory,  gold-dust  and  slaves ;  and  only  a  meagre  allowance  of 
these ;  and  this,  notwithstanding  the  Portuguese  authorities 
were  willing  and  even  anxious  that  the  country  should  be 
opened  to  the  influence  of  civilization  and  lawful  commerce. 

The  natives  were  agricultural  and  fond  of  trading;  the 
soil  was  fertile  and  the  products  abundant.  Indigo,  cotton, 


OBJECTS  OF  THE  EXPEDITION.  291 

tobacco,  sugar-cane  and  other  articles  of  value  were  either 
cultivated  or  growing  wild.  Livingstone's  soul  burned  with 
the  desire  to  open  this  region  to  civilization,  and  the  Zambesi 
seemed  to  him  the  natural  highway  to  the  interior.  He 
therefore  longed  to  make  a  more  thorough  exploration  of 
this  large  river,  which  he  thought  would  be  of  inestimable 
service  to  Africa  and  Europe.  His  project  received  the 
approbation  of  the  English  government,  and  under  its  auspi- 
ces and  those  of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society,  an  expedi- 
tion was  fitted  out  with  Livingstone  at  its  head. 

The  objects  of  this  second  Zambesi  Expedition,  as  explicitly 
stated  in  the  instructions  of  government  were,  "  To  extend 
the  knowledge  already  attained,  of  the  geography  and  min- 
eral and  agricultural  resources  of  Eastern  and  Central  Africa ; 
to  improve  our  acquaintance  with  the  inhabitants,  and  to 
endeavor  to  engage  them  to  apply  themselves  to  industrial 
pursuits,  and  to  the  cultivation  of  their  lands,  with  a  view 
to  the  production  of  raw  material  to  be  exported  to  Eng- 
land in  return  for  British  manufactures.  It  is  hoped  that  by 
encouraging  the  natives  to  occupy  themselves  in  the  devel- 
opment of  the  resources  of  the  country,  a  considerable  advance 
may  be  made  towards  the  extinction  of  the  slave  trade." 
Lord  Clarendon  was  then  at  the  head  of  the  Foreign  Office, 
and  the  expedition  was  fitted  out  under  his  immediate  care. 

The  objects  which  Livingstone  himself  proposed  in  the 
Zambesi  Expedition,  he  thus  states : — 

"  I  have  a  twofold  object  in  view,  and  believe  that,  by 
guiding  our  missionary  labors  so  as  to  benefit  our  own  coun- 
try, we  shall  thereby  more  effectually  and  permanently  ben- 
efit the  heathen.  Seven  years  were  spent  at  Kolobeng  in 
instructing  my  friends  there ;  but  the  country  being  incapable 
of  raising  materials  for  exportation,  when  the  Boers  made 
their  murderous  attack  and  scattered  the  tribe  for  a  season, 
none  sympathized  except  a  few, Christian  friends.  Had  the 
people  of  Kolobeng  been  in  the  habit  of  raising  the  raw 
materials  of  English  commerce,  the  outrage  would  have  been 
felt  in  England ;  or,  what  is  more  likely  to  have  been  the 


292  LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

case,  the  people  would  have  raised  themselves  in  the  scale  by 
barter,  and  have  become,  like  the  Basutos  of  Moshesh  and 
people  of  Kuruman,  possessed  of  fire-arms,  and  the  Boers 
would  never  have  made  the  attack  at  all.  We  ought  to 
encourage  the  Africans  to  cultivate  for  our  markets,  as  the 
most  effectual  means,  next  to  the  Gospel,  of  their  elevation. 

"  It  is  in  the  hope  of  working  out  this  idea  that  I  propose 
the  fonnation  of  stations  on  the  Zambesi  beyond  the  Portu- 
guese territory,  but  having  communication  through  them 
with  the  coast.  A  chain  of  stations  admitting  of  easy  and 
speedy  intercourse,  such  as  might  be  formed  along  the  flank 
of  the  eastern  ridge,  would  be  in  a  favorable  position  for 
carrying  out  the  objects  in  view." 

Associated  with  Dr.  Livingstone  in  this  Zambesi  Explora- 
tion, were  his  brother,  Rev.  Charles  Livingstone,  formerly  a 
clergyman  in  Massachusetts,  and  Dr.  Kirk,  an  accomplished 
botanist,  who  is  now  the  British  Consul  at  Zanzibar.  The 
Expedition  left  England  on  the  10th  of  March,  1858,  in 
Her  Majesty's  steamer,  "  Pearl,"  commanded  by  Capt.  Dun- 
can. At  Cape  Town  it  was  joined  by  Mr.  Francis  Skead,  R. 
N.,  a  surveyor,  and  arrived  at  the  mouth  of  the  Zambesi  in 
May. 

As  we  have  already  given  Livingstone's  explorations  of  this 
river,  it  is  not  our  intention  to  follow  him  minutely  in  this 
second  expedition.  He  traversed  much  the  same  region  as 
before,  and  though  he  added  greatly  to  his  knowledge  of  the 
river,  the  surrounding  country  and  its  inhabitants,  the  minute 
recital  of  the  story  of  his  adventures  would  not  be  of  great 
interest  to  the  general  reader. 

The  book  which  he  published  on  his  return  to  England  in 
1864,  after  an  absence  of  nearly  six  years,  entitled  "  Narra- 
tion of  an  Expedition  to  the  Zambesi  and  its  Tributaries," 
did  not  meet  the  public  expectations,  and  the  Government 
was  disappointed  in  the  accomplishment  "of  the  great  results 
which  the  expedition  had  promised. 

Charles  Livingstone  and  Dr.  Kirk  made  many  magnetic 
meteorological  observations,  photographed  numerous  places, 


THE  MA  ROBERT.  293. 

persons  and  things,  endeavored  to  promote  the  culture  of 
cotton,  indigo  and  other  staples  of  commerce,  and  collected  a 
large  number  of  birds,  insects,  and  other  objects  of  interest, 
which  were  forwarded  to  the  British  Museum  and  the  Royal 
Botanic  Gardens  at  Kew.  One  beneficial  result  of  the  expe- 
dition undoubtedly  was  the  moral  influence  exerted  on  the 
natives  by  the  teachings  and  practices  of  a  well  regulated 
intelligent  party  of  Europeans,  who  explained  to  them  the 
arts  of  peace,  gave  religious  instruction,  and  conciliated  their 
good  will  by  acts  of  charity  and  kindness.  This  was  one 
of  the  primary  objects  which  the  government  had  in  mind  in 
Bending  out  the  expedition,  and  from  this  point  of  view  the 
second  mission  of  Livingstone  was  a  success. 

Mr.  Skead,  the  surveyor,  examined  thoroughly  the  mouths 
of  the  Zambesi,  which  are  obstructed  by  bars  of  sand 
brought  down  by  the  current  of  the  river  in  the  course  of 
ages,  and  piled  up  by  the  swell  of  the  Indian  Ocean.  This 
skillful  and  energetic  surveyor  decided  that  of  the  three 
prominent  mouths  which  form  the  delta  of  the  Zambesi,  the 
Kongone  is  the  most  feasible  for  commerce. 

Livingstone's  outfit  on  this  expedition  was  a  liberal  one. 
Among  other  things  the  English  government  furnished  him 
with  a  small  steamer,  named  "  Ma  Robert,"  a  name  given  to 
Mrs.  Livingstone  by  the  Makololos,  on  her  first  visit  to  Lake- 
Ngami.  This  steamer  was  brought  out  in  sections  on  the' 
"  Pearl,"  and  put  together  after  the  party  reached  the  Zan> 
besi.  It  was  designed  to  aid  in  the  explorations  of  tMafe 
river  and  its  tributaries.  Ma  Robert  was  found  hardly  suffi- 
cient to  stem  the  current  of  the  Zambesi,  and  it  was  the*  8th 
of  September  1858  before  he  reached  Tete,  where  Be-  had 
left  his  faithful  Makololo  attendants  two  years  previous,.  'No' 
sooner  did  they  recognize  him,  than  they  ran  with  great  joy. 
to  embrace  him,  but  when  they  saw  that  he  was  dressed  ih', 
fresh  clothes  they  refrained  from  touching  him  lest  they 
should  soil  his  new  suit.  Thirty  of  their  number  had  died' 
in  Livingstone's  absence.  They  heard  the  story  of  Sekwebu's 
death  with  quiet  sadness,  merely  remarking,  "Men:  die  ih; 


294:  LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE 'AXD  TRAVELS. 

-        *  "^ 

every  country."  They  had  not  been  assisted  by  the  Portu- 
guese government  as  promised,  but  had  mostly  sustained 
themselves  by  cutting  wood  in  the  forests  and  hawking"  it 
around  the  village.  To  the  credit  of  Major  Sicard,  it  must 
be  added  that  he  had  generously  aided  the  faithful  Makololo 
from  his  own  purse. 

An  attempt  was  made  with  the  Ma  Eobert  to  ^ascend  the 
Jvebrabasa  Eapids,  some  forty  miles  above  Tete,  but  it  proved 
.an  .utter  failure,  whereupon  Livingstone  petitioned  the  Eng- 
lish government  for  a  more  powerful  steamer,  and  in  the 
.mean  time  prosecuted  his  researches  up  the  Shire.  This  river 
had  never  .been  explored  by  the  Portuguese,  who  represented, 
that  it  was  so  full  of  water  plants  that  no  boat  could  push  its 
way  through  them. 

Livingstone  started  up  this  river  with  the  Ma  Robert  in 
January  1859,  .and  found  no  serious  obstruction:  For  the 
first  twenty-five  miles,  "duckweed"  was  floating  down  in 
.considerable  quantities,  but  not  sufficient  to  impede  naviga- 
tion even  with  canoes.  Livingstone  ascended  the  river  over 
two  hundred  miles,  and  found  the  natives  suspicious  of  him 
as  a  slave-dealer.  On  his  explaining  that  he  merely  came  as 
an  explorer,  and  to  open  a  way  for  legitimate  trade,  they 
treated  him  and  his  company  in  a  very  friendly  manner.  rln 
latitude  15°  15'  S.  his  further  progress  was  impeded  by  the 
magnificent  cataracts  of  the  Murchison. 

In  March  1859,  the  party  starte'd  for  a  second  trip  up  the 
Shire,  and  on  the  18th  of  April  discovered  Lake  Shirwa,  a 
body  of  bitter  water  eighty  miles  long  by  twenty  broad, 
filled  with  fish,  crocodiles  and  hippopotami.  The  taste  of 
the  water  was  like  a  weak  solution  of  Epsom  salts.  Its  elevation 
above  the  sea,  is  about  one  thousand  and  eight  hundred  feet. 
The  country  on  its  border  is  beautiful  and  fertile,  and  lofty 
mountains  probably  about  eight  thousand  feet  high  stand 
near  the  eastern  shore. 

In  August  1859,  Livingstone  again  ascended  the  Shire  and 
found  the  valley  of  the  river  to  be  generally  from  fifteen  to 
twenty  miles  wide  and  exceedingly  fertile.  Lemon  and 


UP  THE  SHIRE.  295 

orange  trees  grew  wild,  and  pine-apples  were  cultivated. 
The  Shire  marshes  were  found  to  support  prodigious  num- 
bers of  water  fowls,  which  were  startled  by  the  noise  of  the 
steamer.  The  timid  ones  flew  off,  while  the  bolder  only 
spread  their  wings  ready  for  instant  flight. 

On  the  28th  of  August,  the  party  left  the  steamer  en  route 
for  Lake  Nyassa,  crossing  the  highlands  in  a  northerly  direc- 
tion towards  the  Upper  Shire  valley,  which  they  found  also 
to  be  wonderfully  fertile.  The  country  is  inhabited  by  a 
race  called  the  Manganja,  who  are  industrious  tillers  of  the 
soil  and  are  also  workers  of  iron  and  cotton,  each  village  hav- 
ing its  blacksmith,  who  makes  axes,  shears,  etc.  The  cotton 
raised  here  is  of  excellent  quality.  It  is  perennial,  but  is 
better  if  replanted  once  in  three  years. 

The  Manganjas  are  great  dandies.  Foppery  is  not  con- 
fined to  white  folks. 

The  negroes  of  Africa  are  as  fond  of  ornament  as  are 
the  ladies  of  Europe,  or  America.  The  Manganjas,  especially, 
delight  in  adorning  their  bodies  extravagantly,  wearing  rings 
on  their  fingers,  necklaces,  bracelets  and  anklets.  A  peculiar 
ornament — if  it  may  be  called  an  ornament — of  the  Mangan- 
ja women  is  the  pelele,  or  upper  lip  ring,  which  Dr.  Living- 
stone thus  describes.  "  The  middle  of  the  upper  lip  of  the 
girls  is  pierced  close  to  the  septum  of  the  nose,  and  a  small 
pin  inserted  to  prevent  the  puncture  closing  up.  After  it 
has  healed,  the  pin  is  taken  out  and  a  larger  one  is  pierced 
into  its  place,  and  so  on  successively  for  weeks  and  months 
and  years. 

"  The  process  of  increasing  the  size  of  the  lip  goes  on  till  its 
capacity  becomes  so  great  that  a  ring  of  two  inches  diameter 
can  be  introduced  with  ease.  All  the  highland  women  wear 
the  pelele  and  it  is  common  both  on  the  Upper  and  Lower 
Shire.  The  poorer  classes  make  them  of  bamboo,  but  the 
wealthier  of  ivory,  or  tin.  The  tin  pelele  is  often  made  in 
the  form  of  a  small  dish.  The  ivory  one  is  not  unlike  a  nap- 
kin ring.  No  woman  ever  appears  in  public  without  the 
pelele." 


296  LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

It  is  frightfully  ugly  to  see  the  upper  lip  projecting  two 
inches  beyond  the  tip  of  the  nose.  Dr.  Livingstone  speaks 
of  the  pelele  of  an  old  lady,  a  chieftainess,  as  hanging  down 
below  her  chin  with,  of  course,  a  piece  of  her  upper  lip  around 
its  border.  The  absurdity  of  the  pelele  is  manifest,  but  the 
Manganja  plead  the  same  excuse  for  it  that  white  women 
plead  for  similar  follies,  "  It  is  the  fashion."  Dr.  Livingstone 
rather  ungallantly  suggests  that  the  pelele  was  invented  to 
give  employment  to  the  "unruly  member"  as  he  noticed 
that  the  women  were  continually  twirling  their  peleles  with 
their  tongues.  "  Why  do  the  women  wear  these  things  ?"  he 
inquired  of  the  old  chief  Chibisa.  Evidently  surprised  at 
such  a  question,  he  replied ;  "  For  beauty  to  be  sure !  men 
have  beards  and  whiskers ;  and  what  kind  of  a  creature  would 
a  woman  be  without  whiskers  and  without  a  pelele?  She 
would  have  a  mouth  like  a  man  and  no  beard,  ha !  ha !  ha !" 

The  valley  of  the  Shire  was  filled  with  elephants,  and  Dr. 
Livingstone  reckoned  that  he  saw  eight  hundred  at  one  time. 
They  soon  learned  to  keep  at  a  distance  from  the  steamer, 
but  at  first  he  steamed  into  a  herd,  and  some  were  shot  from 
the  deck.  He  thus  describes  the  mode  of  hunting  the  hippo- 
potami which  abound  in  the  river.  "  The  hippopotamus  feeds 
on  grass  alone,  and  when  there  is  any  danger,  only  at  night. 
Its  enormous  lips  are  like  a  mowing  machine,  and  form  a  path 
of  short  cropped  grass  as  it  feeds.  The  hippopotamus  trap 
consists  of  a  beam  five  or  six  feet  long,  armed  with  a  spear- 
head covered  with  poison,  and  suspended  to  a  forked  pole 
by  a  cord  which,  coming  down  to  the  path,  is  held  by  a  catch 
to  be  let  free  when  the  beast  treads  upon  it.  One  got  fright- 
ened by  the  ship  as  she  was  steaming  close  to  the  bank.  In 
its  eager  hurry  to  escape,  it  rushed  on  shore,  and  ran  directly 
under  a  trap,  when  down  came  the  heavy  beam  on  its  back 
driving  the  poisoned  spear-head  a  foot  deep  into  its  flesh. 
In  its  agony  it  plunged  back  into  the  river,  to  die  in  a  few 
hours,  and  afterwards  furnished  a  feast  for  the  natives." 

On  the  16th  of  September  1859,  Dr.  Livingstone  discover- 
ed Lake  Nyassa.     Its  southern  end  is  in  latitude  14°  25 '  S.  and 


LAKE  NYASSA  DISCOVERED.  297 

its  longitude  35°  30 '  E.  A  German  explorer,  Albert  Boscher, 
reached  the  lake  on  the  19th  of  November  following.  It  is 
not  known  where  Dr.  Roscher  first  saw  its  waters.  His 
explorations  were  never  published  as  he  was  soon  after  mur- 
dered. No  thorough  examination  of  Lake  ISTyassa  was  made 
at  this  time  and  the  party  soon  retraced  their  steps  towards 
Tete,  where  they  arrived  on  the  2d  of  February  1860. 

Dr.  Livingstone's  next  expedition  was  to  the  Makololo 
country,  partly  for  the  purpose  of  returning  his  faithful  attend- 
ants to  their  native  country,  and  partly  to  examine  the  mis- 
sionary stations  which  had  been  established  on  the  Upper 
Zambesi.  Some  of  the  Makololos  were  quite  unwilling  to 
return  home,  as  they  had  been  captivated  with  the  slave- 
women  of  Tete  and  fourteen  children  had  been  born  to  them 
whom  the  slave  owners  claimed,  though  not  in  accordance 
with  Portuguese  law,  which  pronounces  the  baptized  children 
of  slave  women  free.  When  this  law  was  referred  to,  the 
natives  laughed,  saying,  "  Those  Lisbon-born  laws  are  very 
stringent,  but  somehow,  possibly  from  the  heat  of  the  climate, 
here  they  lose  all  their  force." 

On  the  15th  of  May  the  party,  consisting  of  Dr.  Living- 
stone, his  brother,  Dr.  Kirk,  the  remaining  Makololo  who 
had  come  down  in  1856,  one  woman,  and  six  men  sent  by 
Major  Sicard  and  a  Portuguese  merchant  to  assist  the  party 
on  its  return,  left  Tete.  The  expedition  was  a  successful  one, 
but  revealed  nothing  particularly  new. 

At  Sesheke,  they  found  Sekeletu  still  alive  but  suffering 
from  leprosy.  The  wagon  left  at  Linyanti  eight  years  before, 
still  remained,  with  the  scientific  instruments  and  goods.  The 
missions  had  proved  a  failure,  and  the  missionaries  had  either 
died  or  departed. 

Livingstone  evidently  did  not  fall  in  love  with  the  Mako- 
lolos on  further  acquaintance  with  their  habits  and  character- 
istics, though  they  are  acknowledged  to  be  a  most  favora- 
ble specimen  of  the  African  race.  Their  dancing,  singing, 
roaring,  grumbling  and  quarreling  were  a  severe  penance  to 


298  LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS; 

endure  daily.     The  women  he  represents  as  always  quarrel- 
ing among  themselves. 

Many  of  the  Makololo  are  inveterate  smokers,  and,  gener- 
ally prefer  hemp  to  tobacco  as  it  is  more  intoxicating.  •  They 
delight  in  smoking  themselves  into  a  perfect  frenzy,  which 
passes  off  in  a  rapid  stream  of  unmeaning  words,  or  short 
sentences  such  as,  "  The  green  grass  grows,"  "  The  fat  cattle 
thrive."  No  one  pays  the  least  attention  to  the  utterances  of 
the  intoxicated  smoker,  who  finally  stops  his  chant  and  looks 
foolish.  The  women  smoke  as  well  as  the  men,  but  do  it 
secretly  as  their  husbands  forbid  their  smoking.  The  indul- 
gence has  an  injurious  influence,  and  its  effects  cannot  be  mis- 
taken. 

"  Both  in  color  and  general  manners,  the  Makololo  women 
are  superior  to  most  of  the  tribes.  This  superiority  is  partly 
due  to  the  light  brown  of  their  complexion,  and  partly  to 
their  mode  of  life.  Unlike  the  women  of  ordinary  African 
tribes,  those  of  the  Makololo  lead  a  comparatively  easy  life, 
having  their  harder  labors  shared  by  their  husbands,  who  aid 
in  digging  the  ground,  and  in  other  rough  work.  Even  the 
domestic  work  is  done  more  by  servants  than  by  the  mistresses 
of  the  household,  so  that  the  Makololo  women  are  not  liable 
to  that  rapid  deterioration  which  is  so  evident  among  other 
tribes. 

"  The  only  hard  work  that  falls  to  the  lot  of  the  Makololo 
women  is  that  of  house-building,  which  is  left  entirely  to 
them  and  their  servants. 

"  The  mode  of  making  a  house  is  rather  remarkable.  The 
first  business  is  to  build  a  cylindrical  tower  of  stakes  and 
reeds,  plastered  with  mud,  and  some  nine  or  ten  feet  in 
height,  the  walls  and  floor  being  smoothly  plastered,  so  as  to 
prevent  them  from  harboring  insects.  A  large  conical  roof  is 
then  put  together  on  the  ground,  and  completely  thatched 
with  reeds.  It  is  then  lifted  by  many  hands,  and  lodged  on 
the  top  of  the  circular  tower.  As  the  roof  projects  far  beyond 
the  central  tower,  it  is  supported  by  stakes,  and  as  a  general 
rule  the  spaces  between  these  stakes  are  filled  up  with  a  wall 


VISIT  TO  THE  MAKOLOL(X  301 

or  fence  of  reeds  plastered  with  mud.  This  roof  is  not  per- 
manently fixed  either  to  the  supporting  stakes  "or  the  central 
tower,  and  can  be  removed  at  pleasure. 

"  When  a  visitor  arrives  among  the  Makololo,  he  is  often 
lodged  by  the  simple  process  of  lifting  a  finished  roof  off  an 
unfinished  house,  and  putting  it  on  the  ground.  Although  it 
is  then  so  low  that  a  man  can  scarcely  sit,  much  less  stand 
upright,  it  answers  very  well  for  Southern  Africa,  where  the 
whole  of  active  life  is  spent,  as  a  rule,  in  the  open  air,  and 
where  houses  are  only  used  as  sleeping-boxes.  The  doorway 
that  gives  admission  into  the  circular  chamber  is  always  small. 
In  a  house  that  was  assigned  to  Dr.  Livingstone,  it  was  only 
nineteen  inches  in  total  height,  twenty-two  in  width  at  the 
floor,  and  twelve  at  the  top.  Except  through  this  door,  the 
tower  has  neither  light  nor  ventilation.  Some  of  the  best 
houses  have  two,  and  even  three  of  these  towers,  built  con- 
centrically within  each  other,  and  each  having  its  entrance 
about  as  large  as  the  door  of  an  ordinary  dog-kennel.  Of 
course  the  atmosphere  is  very  close  at  night,  but  the  people 
care  nothing  about  that." 

An  elephant's  foot  prepared  according  to  the  custom  of  the 
country  is  considered  food  fit  for  a  king.  It  is  cooked  by 
digging  a  large  hole  in  the  ground,  in  which  a  roaring  fire  is 
kindled.  "When  the  hole  is  thoroughly  heated,  the  entire 
foot,  sometimes  of  the  size  of  a  half-bushel,  is  thrown  in  and 
covered  over  with  ashes  and  soil.  Over  this  pile  another  fire 
is  built  and  the  whole  left  for  several  hours.  Livingstone 
had  for  breakfast  one  morning,  an  elephant's  foot  thus  cooked 
and  found  it  delicious.  It  was  a  whitish,  glutinous  mass, 
sweet  like  marrow.  He  recommends  a  long  march  after  a 
meal  of  elephant's  foot  to  prevent  its  bilious  effect.  Elephant's 
trunk  and  tongue  he  also  speaks  of  as  good  eating,  but  all  the 
other  meat  is  tough. 

Many  of  the  wives  of  the  Makololo  who  went  down  the 
Zambesi  with  Dr.  Livingstone  became  weary  of  their  long 
widowhood,  and  petitioned  Sekeletu  for  permission  to  marry 
again.  They  said  it  was  no  use  waiting  any  longer — their 


302  LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

husbands  must  be  dead.  But  the  chief  had  promised  the 
absent  men  that  their  wives  should  be  kept  for  them,  and 
would  not  allow  them  to  marry.  Some  of  them,  however, 
eloped  with  other  men,  and,  among  others,  the  wife  of  Mant- 
lauyane  ran  off  and  left  his  little  boy  among  strangers.  He 
was  not  in  a  situation  to  throw  stones  at  her,  for  he  had  mar- 
ried two  other  wives  at  Tete  ;  but  he  was  very  angry  at  her 
abandoning  his  boy. 

"  Among  the  Makololo,  as  well  as  among  Europeans,  the 
spirit  of  play  is  strong  in  children,  and  they  engage  in  various 
games,  chiefly  consisting  in  childish  imitation  of  the  more 
serious  pursuits  of  their  parents. 

"  The  children  have  merry  times,  especially  in  the  cool  of 
the  evening.  One  of  their  games  consists  of  a  little  girl  being 
carried  on  the  shoulders  of  two  others.  She  sits  with  out- 
stretched arms,  as  they  walk  about  with  her,  and  all  the  rest 
clap  their  hands,  and  stopping  before  each  hut,  sing  pretty  airs, 
some  beating  time  on  their  little  kilts  of  cow-skin,  and  others 
making  a  curious  humming  sound  between  the  songs.  Except- 
ing this  and  the  skipping-rope,  the  play  of  the  girls  consists 
in  imitation  of  the  serious  work  of  their  mothers,  building 
little  huts,  making  small  pots,  and  cooking,  pounding  corn  in 
miniature  mortars,  or  hoeing  tiny  gardens. 

"  The  boys  play  with  spears  of  reeds  pointed  with  wood,  and 
small  shields,  or  bows  and  arrows ;  or  amuse  themselves  in 
making  little  cattle-pens,  or  cattle  in  clay, — they  show  great 
ingenuity  in  the  imitation  of  variously  shaped  horns.  Some, 
too,  are  said  to  use  slings,  but  as  soon  as  they  can  watch  the 
goats  or  calves,  they  are  sent  to  the  field.  "We  saw  many  boys 
riding  on  the  calves  they  had  in  charge,  but  this  is  an  innova- 
tion since  the  arrival  of  the  English  with  their  horses. 

"  Tselane,  one  of  the  ladies,  on  observing  Dr.  Livingstone 
noting  observation  on  the  wet  and  dry  bulb  thermometers, 
thought  that  he  too  was  engaged  in  play.  On  receiving  no 
reply  to  her  question,  which  was  rather  difficult  to  answer,  aa 
their  native  tongue  has  no  scientific  terms,  she  said  with 
roguish  glee,  '  Poor  thing !  playing  like  a  little  child  !' " 


WRECK  OF  THE  MA  ROBERT.  303 

As  a  whole,  the  expedition  to  the  Makololo  county  is 
devoid  of  interest  to  those  who  have  followed  Livingstone  in 
his  trip  down  the  Zambesi.  In  attempting  to  pass  the  Kebra- 
basa  Rapids  in  canoes  on  their  return,  the  party  was  upset,  and 
unfortunately,  Dr.  Kirk  lost  his  botanical  collections,  his 
manuscripts  and  his  instruments.  Their  troubles  did  not 
end  on  reaching  their  steamer.  The  Ma  Robert  had  always 
been  a  leaky  craft,  and  on  the  twenty-first  of  December 
grounded  on  a  sand-bank  and  went  to  pieces.  This  was  the 
last  of  the  old  "Asthmatic"  as  Livingstone  called  her.  The 
Christmas  of  1860  he  spent  on  the  island  of  Chimba,  and 
arrived  at  Tete  on  the  4th  of  January,  1861. 

On  the  thirty-first  of  January,  a  new  steam-ship  "  The 
Pioneer/Vhich  Livingstone  had  requested  should  be  sent 
out  to  him,  arrived.  Two  of  her  Majesty's  cruisers  came  at 
the  same  time,  bringing  Bishop  Mackenzie,  and  what  was 
called  the  "  Universities'  Mission  to  the  tribes  of  the  Shire 
and  Lake  Nyassa.  The  Mission  consisted  of  six  Englishmen, 
and  five  colored  men  from  the  Cape.  The  Bishop,  anxious 
to  commence  his  work,  wished  the  Pioneer  to  carry  the 
Mission  up  the  Shire  as  far  as  Chibisa's. 

Livingstone  opposed  this,  and  advised  the  Bishop  to  ascend 
the  Rovuma  which  empties  into  the  Indian  Ocean  between 
the  parallels  of  10C  and  11Q  S.,  and  proceed  thence  over- 
land to  his  destination.  The  Bishop  yielded  to  what  he  con- 
sidered superior  wisdom,  and  on  the  eleventh  of  March  the 
Pioneer  entered  the  Rovuma.  The  river  was  low,  and  after 
an  ineffectual  attempt  of  ten  days  to  ascend,  the  Pioneer 
turned  back  to  the  Zambesi. 

The  Pioneer  proved  to  be  a  well-built  boat,  designed  to 
draw  only  three  feet  of  water,  but  when  heavily  laden  sank 
five  feet.  She,  however,  went  up  the  Zambesi  very  well. 
On  the  Upper  Shire,  navigation  was  more  difficult.  The  party 
was  at  one  time  a  fortnight  on  a  bank  of  soft,  yielding  sand, 
but  reached  Chibisa's  in  July,  1861.  Bishop  Mackenzie  accepted 
the  invitation  of  one  of  the  Manganja  chiefs  to  settle  near 
his  village,  called  Magomero — a  beautiful  and  apparently 


304  LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

healthy  place,  while  Dr.  Livingstone  and  his  party  returned 
to  the  Pioneer,  and  made  preparations  to  visit  Lake  Nyassa. 
A  four-oared  boat,  which  had  been  brought  out  in  the  Pioneer 
in  sections,  was  carried  around  the  falls  of  the  Upper  Shire, 
a  distance  of  forty  miles,  by  the  natives,  who  were  hired  for 
a  little  cotton  cloth. 

On  the  2d  of  September  the  party  rowed  into  Lake  Nyassa, 
and  spent  the  months  of  September  and  October  in  its  thor- 
ough exploration.  Abundance  of  excellent  fish  were  found 
in  the  lake,  mostly  varieties  new  to  the  travelers.  The  Lake 
people  were  kind,  but  by  no  means  handsome.  The  pelele 
was  universally  worn  by  the  women.  Some,  not  content  with 
one  pelele,  put  another  in  the  lower  lip.  All  the  nation  are 
tattooed  from  head  to  foot.  The  Mazitu,  who  live  on  the 
highlands,  are  lawless,  and  make  marauding  excursions  to  the 
villages  on  the  plains.  The  Lake  slave  trade  was  going  on  at 
a  terrible  rate,  nineteen  thousand  slaves  from  Nyassa  country 
being  annually  exported  from  Zanzibar.  The  Lake  seemed 
to  be  the  fountain  head  of  the  slave  trade. 

The  party  reached  their  ship  on  the  8th  of  November,  1861, 
in  a  reduced  condition,  having  suffered  much  from  hunger. 
Descending  the  Shire,  they  reached  the  Zambesi  on  the  llth 
of  January,  and  steamed  down  that  river  to  the  coast,  where 
they  anchored  on  the  Great  Luabo  mouth  of  the  Zambesi. 

On  the  30th  of  January,  1862,  H.  M.  S.  Gorgon  arrived, 
bringing  Mrs.  Livingstone,  a  reinforcement  for  the  Bishop's 
mission,  and  a  new  iron  steamer,  in  sections,  called  the  "  Lady 
of  the  Lake,"  intended  for  the  navigation  of  Nyassa.  Eev. 
James  Stuart  also  came  in  the  Gorgon,  with  a  view  of  explor- 
ing the  interior  for  further  mission  sites. 

Mrs.  Livingstone  did  not  long  survive.  About  the  middle 
of  the  following  April,  while  the  party  were  at  Shupanga, 
she  was  taken  down  with  the  African  fever,  and  although 
her  husband  and  Dr.  Kirk  did  all  that  medical  skill  could  do 
for  her  restoration,  this  brave  and  unselfish  woman  closed 
lier  eyes  in  death  on  the  eve  of  the  Sabbath,  April  27,  1862. 
"With  sympathizing  hearts,  the  little  band  of  his  countrymen 


DEATH  OF  MBS.  LIVINGSTONE.  3Q5 

assisted  the  bereaved  husband  in  burying  his  dead.     Rev.  Mr. 
Stewart  read  the  burial  service. 

Mrs.  Livingstone  knew  well  the  hardships  of  African  life ; 
in  behalf  of  this  benighted  land  she  had  spent  most  of  her 
days,  and  in  the  attempt  to  renew  her  self-denying  labors  was 
called  to  a  better  country.  May  her  memory  be  cherished. 

The  brief  story  of  the  Universities'  Mission  may  as  well  be 
told  here.  Bishop  Mackenzie  found  the  Manganjas  friendly, 
and  for  a  time  the  Mission  flourished.  In  their  zeal  for  the 
suppression  of  the  slave-trade,  the  missionaries  allowed  them- 
selves to  be  drawn  into  a  war  with  the  Ajawas.  The  mis- 
sionary station  was  changed  from  the  highlands  to  the  Lower 
Shire  valley,  where  the  malarious  atmosphere  soon  swept  off 
the  devoted  company.  The  Bishop,  worn  out  with  privations 
and  sickness,  died  in  January,  1862,  and  three  of  his  compan- 
ions soon  followed  him  to  the  spirit  land.  The  remainder, 
deprived  of  their  head,  became  discouraged,  and  returned  to 
England. 

The  different  sections  of  "  The  Lady  of  the  Lake "  alias 
"  Lady  Nyassa  "  were  taken  up  the  Zambesi  to  Shupanga. 
Here  she  was  put  together,  and  safely  launched  on  the  23d 
of  June. 

The  natives  were  much  astonished  to  see  an  iron  vessel 
floating.  They  had  predicted  that  as  soon  as  it  touched  the 
river  it  would  sink,  affirming : — 

"  If  we  put  a  hoe  or  any  other  piece  of  iron  into  the  water 
it  sinks  immediately.  How,  then,  can  such  a  mass  of  iron 
float  ?"  "When  they  saw  the  Lady  Nyassa  floating  at  Shupanga,. 
they  attributed  it  to  the  "  white  man's  medicine." 

The  launching  was  accomplished  so  late  in  the  season  that 
the  Shire  river  was  too  low  to  be  navigated,  and  Dr.  Living- 
stone determined  to  make  one  more  attempt  to  ascend  the 
Eovuma.  This  river  was  reported  to  be  the  outlet  of  Lake 
Nyassa,  and  hence  was  supposed  to  be  the  natural  highway 
from  the  coast  to  the  Lake  region. 

Dr.  Livingstone's  party  reached  the  mouth  of  the  Rovuma 
early  in  September,  but  found  its  waters  very  low.     Proceedr 
16 


306  LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

ing  in  his  steamer  up  the  river  some  thirty  or  forty  miles,  he 
was  compelled  to  abandon  the  steamer,  and  push  on,  as  best 
he  could,  in  small  row  boats,  resolved  to  ascertain  whether 
he  could  make  communication,  by  this  route,  with  Lake 
Nyassa. 

The  valley  of  the  Rovuma  was  found  to  be  from  two  to 
four  miles  wide,  bounded  on  either  side  by  highlands.  Few 
natives  were  seen.  They  hid  themselves  in  the  thick  jungle 
on  the  hill-sides  for  fear  of  slave-traders.  The  absence  of 
birds  and  land  animals  was  also  remarkable.  Ebony  trees  of 
large  size  were  abundant  within  eight  miles  of  the  coast. 

The  party  ascended  the  river  one  hundred  and  fifty-six 
miles,  to  Lat.  11°  53 ',  Long.  38°  36 ',  when  their  further 
progress  by  boats  was  impeded  by  falls.  The  distance  from 
Ngomano,  a  place  twenty  miles  farther  up  the  river,  to  the 
lake,  was  said  by  the  natives  to  be  a  twelve-day  journey. 
Dr.  Livingstone  therefore  conchided  that  the  best  route  to  the 
interior  was  by  the  Zambesi  and  Shire  rivers,  and  he  accord- 
ingly returned  to  Shupanga,  where  he  arrived  December  19th 
1862. 

Still  determined  to  carry  out  his  favorite  project  of  launch- 
ing his  "  Lady  "  on  Lake  Nyassa,  Livingstone  set  about  devis- 
ing ways  and  means  to  transport  the  steamer  above  the  falls 
of  the  Shire.  In  January  1863,  he  went  up  the  Shire,  and 
visited  the  remains  of  the  Universities'  Mission.  Desolation 
marked  the  whole  region.  The  river  banks,  once  so  pop- 
ulous, were  silent.  The  sight  and  smell  of  dead  bodies  were 
everywhere.  The  majority  of  the  population  was  dead. 
Ghastly,  living  forms  of  boys  and  girls,  with  dull,  dead  eyes, 
were  crouching  beside  some  of  the  huts.  The  corpse  of  a  boy 
floated  past  the  ship ;  a  monstrous  crocodile  rushed  at  it  with 
the  speed  of  a  greyhound,  caught  it  and  shook  it,  as  a  terrier 
dog  does  a  rat.  The  sight  was  frightful. 

All  this  did  not  frighten  or  discourage  our  intrepid  traveler. 
At  a  rivulet  a  little  below  the  first  cataract  of  the  Shire,  he 
commenced  unscrewing  his  steamer  for  her  transportation  by 
piece-meal  over  thirty-five  or  forty  miles  of  land,  for  which 


FATE  OF  THE  MISSIONARIES.  307 

purpose  a  road  must  be  built  for  a  part  of  the  distance.  The 
difficulties  of  the  undertaking  only  stimulated  him  to  renewed 
effort  to  introduce  light  and  liberty  into  this  fair  portion  of 
the  earth,  now  "  filled  with  the  habitations  of  cruelty."  No 
fresh  meat  could  be  obtained,  excepting  by  hunting,  and 
food  had  to  be  brought  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  from  the' 
Zambesi. 

The  diet  of  salt  food  without  vegetables,  brought  on 
attacks  of  dysentery,  and  Dr.  Kirk  and  Charles  Livingstone, 
having  suffered  severely,  determined  to  abandon  the  expedi- 
tion and  return  to  England.  Dr.  Livingstone  was  himself 
reduced  to  a  shadow,  and  Dr.  Kirk  would  not  leave  him  till 
he  became  convalescent.  The  two  gentleman  left  for  home 
on  the  19th  of  May. 

After  a  few  miles  of  road  had  been  constructed,  Dr.  Liv- 
ingstone resolved  to  try  to  render  himself  independent  of  the 
South  for  provisions,  by  going  in  advance  above  the  cata- 
racts, to  the  tribes  around  the  lake  which  had  not  been 
desolated  by  the  Ajawa  war.  On  the  16th  of  June,  he 
started  for  the  upper  cataracts,  his  course  lying  a  mile  west 
from  the  river.  Near  the  uppermost  cataract,  the  merry 
voices  of  children  at  play  fell  on  his  ear.  They  were 
Manganjas  who  had  fled  there  from  fear  of  the  Ajawas,  and 
had  lost  all  heart  and  all  confidence. 

The  boat  which  Dr.  Livingstone  had  left  at  the  cataract, 
and  by  means  of  which  he  hoped  to  prosecute  his  journey, 
had  been  burned,  probably  accidentally,  about  three  months 
previously,  and  he  was  compelled  to  turn  back.  On  arriving 
at  the  ship,  on  the  2d  of  July,  he  found  a  dispatch  from  Earl 
Russell  ordering  an  abandonment  of  the  Expedition. 

As  it  was  impossible  to  take  the  "  Pioneer  "  down  the  Zam- 
besi till  the  floods  of  December,  Livingstone  ordered  the 
iron  boat  to  be  screwed  together  and,  in  order  to  improve  the 
time,  resolved  to  make  another  excursion  to  Lake  Nyassa. 

Sending  some  men  down  to  Shupanga  for  the  necessary 
provisions,  who  returned  on  the  15th  of  August  with 
coffee,  etc.,  he  started  off  on  his  long  march  the  19th  of  that 


308  LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AXD  TRAVELS. 

month,  accompanied  by  a  small  party,  and  arrived  at  Kota- 
kota  Bay  on  the  10th  of  September,  where  he  sat  down  weary 
under  a  magnificent  wild  fig  tree  with  leaves  ten  inches  long  by 
five  broad.  He  had  rested  but  a  short  time,  when  Jnma  ben 
Saida  the  chief  person  of  the  region,  whom  he  had  met  on 
his  first  visit  to  the  lake,  followed  by  about  fifty  people  came 
to  salute  him,  and  invited  him  to  make  his  quarters  in  the 
village.  The  chief  offered  Livingstone  a  hut,  and  presented 
him  with  rice,  meal  and  sugar-cane.  The  hut  was  so  small 
and  dirty  that  our  traveler  preferred  sleeping  in  the  open  air. 

Juma  was  engaged  in  building  a  boat,  called  a  "dhow," 
fifty  feet  long,  twelve  broad,  and  five  deep.  The  planks 
were  of  a  wood  resembling  teak  and  the  timbers  of  a  closer 
grained  wood.  The  sight  of  this  dhow  convinced  Livingstone 
of  the  folly  of  attempting  to  carry  an  iron  vessel  to  the  lake. 
Juma  was  very  busy  in  transporting  slaves  across  the  lake, 
and  Livingstone  saw  several  gangs  of  stout  young  men,  all 
secured  by  chains  and  waiting  for  exportation. 

Leaving  Kota-kota  Bay,  with  a  servant  of  Juma's  for  a 
guide,  Livingstone  turned  inland,  due  west,  on  the  great 
slave  route  to  Cazembe's  country  in  Loanda.  A  part  of  the 
journey  led  over  a  rich,  well  cultivated  plain,  and  a  part  over 
mountains  between  three  and  four  thousand  feet  high. 

On  the  summit  of  Ndonda,  where  the  boiling  point  of  water 
showed  an  altitude  of  three  thousand  four  hundred  and  forty 
feet  above  the  sea,  the  air  was  delightful  to  Livingstone  but 
depressing  to  his  attendants,  who  had  lived  on  the  delta  of 
the  Zambesi,  and  they  became  sick,  apparently  from  a  change 
from  a  malarious  to  a  pure  atmosphere,  and  one  of  them 
actually  died. 

The  people  on  this  slave  route  were  churlish,  having  been 
made  wary  of  foreigners  by  those  who  came  to  purchase 
slaves.  The  views  of  the  lake  and  the  surrounding  country 
.were  charming  from  these  mountain-tops.  Villages  were 
numerous  and  much  grain  was  cultivated.  Domestic  fowls 
were  plenty,  and  pigeons,  with  dove-cots  like  those  in  Egypt, 
were  seen.  The  people  call  themselves  Matumboka. 


THE  EXPEDITION  RECALLED.  309 

On  the  21st  of  September,  Livingstone  arrived  at  the  vil- 
lage of  the  chief  Muazi,  and  as  his  men  were  sick,  he  remained 
there  two  days.  He  was  anxious  to  get  off  the  slave  route 
and  among  a  people  never  visited  by  slave-traders.  Mriazi 
feared  that  if  he  went  to  the  north,  to  a  well  watered  country, 
where  elephant's  abounded,  he  would  interfere  with  the  trade 
in  ivory,  but  at  last  consented,  warning  him  of  the  dangers. 

Livingstone  made  a  long  detour  to  the  northwest,  finding 
the  people  civil  enough,  but  they  declined  to  sell  him  food. 
The  prospect  of  finding  provisions  farther  north  was  poor, 
and  his  men  were  too  feeble  to  carry  their  burdens.  The  lit- 
tle coarse  meal  they  obtained  caused  dysentery,  being  full 
of  sharp,  angular  particles.  He  was  also  crippled  for  time,  as 
his  orders  had  been  received  to  return  to  England.  In  his 
journal  he  remarks :  "  Neither  want  of  food,  dysentery,  nor 
slave  wars  would  have  prevented  our  working  our  way  around 
the  lake  in  some  other  direction  had  we  had  time." 

Such  is  the  indomitable  spirit  of  Dr.  Livingstone,  but 
"  what  can  be  done  when  an  irresistible  force  strikes  against 
an  immovable  body  ?"  Livingstone  felt  that  the  orders  of  gov- 
ernment w<we  imperative,  turned  back,  and,  by  a  more  south- 
erly route,  reached  his  ship  on  the  Shire,  on  the  1st  of 
November,  after  a  journey  of  seven  hundred  miles.  His  cha- 
grin at  being  compelled  to  return  was  not  concealed,  and  his 
regret  was  increased  by  the  fact  that  the  water  was  still  so 
low  that  he  could  not  immediately  descend  the  river. 

It  was  not  till  the  19th  of  January,  1864,  that  he  was  able 
to  leave  the  Shire.  He  hastened  on  his  journey  down  that 
river  and  the  Zambesi  to  the  ocean,  and  was  fortunate  in' 
meeting,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Zambesi,  H.M.S.  "  Orestes,"  on 
the  13th  of  February.  H.M.S.  "  Ariel "  joined  the  Orestes 
the  next  day.  The  Orestes  took  the  Pioneer,  and  the  Ariel 
the  Lady  Nyassa,  and  started  for  Mozambique. 

The  vessels  encountered  a  hurricane,  and  the  Lady  JSyassa, 
on  board  of  which  was  Livingstone,  came  near  being  swamped, 
but  outrode  the  storrn,  and  was  pronounced  by  the  naval  offi- 
cers to  be  a  remarkably  fine  sea  boat.  After  the  gale  sub- 


310  LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

sided,  Livingstone  was  transferred  to  the  Ariel.  On  the  10  th 
of  April  he  left  Mozambique  for  Zanzibar,  where  he  arrrived 
in  a  week,  and  left  for  England,  via  Bombay,  on  the  30th  of 
the  same  month. 

In  summing  up  the  results  of  the  Zambesi  Expedition,  Dr. 
Livingstone  enumerates  the  discovery  of  a  port  which 
could  be  made  available  for  commercial  purposes ;  the  conclu- 
sion that  the  Rovuma  river  is  not  the  true  highway  to  the 
rich  fields  of  Central  Africa ;  the  thorough  exploration  of 
the  Zambesi  and  Shire  rivers,  the  latter  of  which  is  the 
outlet  of  Lake  Nyassa  and  navigable  to  it  excepting  for  a 
space  of  thirty -five  miles,  where  are  the  cataracts,  falling 
twelve  hundred  feet ;  that  Central  Africa  is  a  fertile  country 
—where  cotton,  tobacco,  indigo,  sugar-cane,  castor-bean  and 
other  tropical  plants  as  also  all  tropical  fruits  grow  indigenously 
and  luxuriantly;  and,  what  is  of  paramount  importance 
to  the  Christian  and  philanthropist,  that  the  natives  are  peace- 
ably disposed  and  susceptible  of  civilization.  Geographical 
and  natural  science  also  received  important  acquisitions. 

The  expedition  occupied  nearly  six  years  of  time,  and  cost 
much  money  and  some  valuable  lives  ;  but  no  great  good  is 
accomplished  without  some  sacrifice.  Neither  the  English  gov- 
ernment, nor  Dr.  Livingstone  was  fully  satisfied  with  the 
results,  but  their  expectations  were  probably  too  high.  In 
the  preparation  of  his  second  book  of  travels,  entitled  "  A 
Narrative  of  an  Expedition  to  the  Zambesi  and  its  Tributaries." 
Dr.  Livingstone  was  assisted  by  his  nephew,  Charles  Living- 
stone, who  had  left  his  family  in  Massachusetts  to  accompany 
the  Zambesi  Expedition.  Soon  afterward,  he  was  appointed 
British  Consul,  and  now  fills  that  position  at  the  Island  of 
Fernando  Po,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Niger. 

The  book  was  dedicated  to  his  warm  friend,  Lord 
Palmerston,  then  prime  minister.  In  the  preface  of  this 
book,  he  thus  announces  his  intention  to  make  a  third  expe- 
dition to  Africa  and  his  purposes  in  so  doing: — 

"  I  propose  to  go  inland,  north  of  the  territory  which  the 
Portuguese  in  Europe  claim,  and  endeavor  to  commence  that 


LIVINGSTONE  IN  ENGLAND.  311 

system  on  the  East  which  has  been  so  successful  on  the  West 
Coast.  I  hope  to  ascend  the  Rovuma,  or  some  other  river 
north  of  Cape  Degaldo,  and,  in  addition  to  my  other  work, 
shall  strive,  by  passing  along  the  northern  end  of  Lake 
Nyassa  and  round  the  southern  end  of  Lake  Tanganyika,  to 
ascertain  the  water-shed  of  that  part  of  Africa." 

It  is  very  manifest  that  the  travels  of  Speke,  Grant,  and 
Baker,  who  had  undertaken  to  explore  the  head  waters  of 
the  classic  Nile,  stimulated  Livingstone  to  renewed  effort  in 
his  favorite  African  field.  He  was  determined  to  ascer- 
tain whether  the  waters  of  Lake  Nyassa  communicate  in  any 
way  with  those  of  Tanganyika,  which  he  felt  confident  flowed 
through  the  great  River  of  the  North  to  the  Mediterranean 
Sea.  After  having  come  so  near  to  the  goal  of  his  hopes,  it 
was  mortifying  to  have  himself  outstripped  in  the  race  of  dis- 
covery by  others.  He  was  also,  doubtless,  led  to  undertake 
his  last  expedition  by  the  restless  spirit  of  adventure,  which 
seems  to  be  generated  in  the  breast  of  every  traveler,  and  to 
grow  upon  what  it  sees. 

"The  eye  is  never  satisfied  with  seeing,"  says  the  wise 
man.  As  wishes  on  wishes  grow,  so  the  love  of  sight-seeing 
increases  the  more  the  sights  are  seen.  So  long  as  Living- 
stone was  occupied  in  the  preparation  of  his  book,  he  was 
apparently  contented;  but  this  work  having  been  accom- 
plished, he  became  uneasy,  and  turned  his  face  again  towards 
the  tropics. 

Of  Livingstone's  last  expedition  to  Africa,  his  start  into 
the  interior  where  he  becomes  finally  lost  to  the  civilized 
world,  his  long  absence  and  unaccountable  silence,  his  reported 
murder,  the  English  Expeditions  for  his  rescue,  his  discovery 
by  the  gallant  Stanley,  and  the  great  explorer's  adventures 
and  wanderings  in  the  unexplored  regions  of  Inner  Africa, 
subsequent  chapters  will  treat. 


CHAPTER  YIII. 
LIVINGSTONE'S  THIRD  EXPEDITION. 

DR.  LIVINGSTONE,  having  been  appointed  Consul  for 
Central  Africa,  left  England  on  his  third  journey  to 
Africa,  Aug.  14,  1865.  His  daughter  accompanied  him  as 
far  as  Paris.  He  arrived  in  Bombay  Jan.  3,  1866,  and  com- 
menced his  preparations  for  exploring  a  portion  of  Africa 
north  of  Lake  Nyassa,  the  country  south  of  that  lake  hav- 
ing been  pretty  well  examined. 

From  Bombay  he  proceeded  to  Zanzibar,  accompanied  by 
two  boys  he  had  picked  up  in  the  Shire  country — Channia 
and  Wakotani — as  well  as  by  a  number  of  men  from  Johanna 
Island  (one  of  the  Comoro  Isles),  a  native  Havildar  (a  Sepoy 
sergeant  of  India),  a  few  enlisted  Sepoys  and  some  Suahili 
from  a  school  at  Bombay.  On  the  28th  of  March,  1866,  the 
great  explorer  and  his  motley  followers  crossed  over  to  the 
main-land,  from  the  island  of  Zanzibar,  and  at  once  started 
for  the  interior  by  way  of  the  river  Rovuma,  which  flows 
into  the  Indian  Ocean  at  Mikindany,  about  five  degrees  south 
of  Zanzibar. 

In  May  1866,  he  was  at  a  point  thirty  miles  up  the  Rovuma 
river.  As  he  journeyed  on,  letters  came  from  him  occasion- 
ally, informing  the  delighted  public  of  his  progress,  and  of 
the  extremely  interesting  incidents  which  would  naturally 
characterize  his  lonely  march  to  the  interior.  But  in  Decem- 
ber of  the  same  year,  Moosa,  the  leader  of  the  Johanna  men 
who  had  accompanied  the  Doctor,  arrived  at  Zanzibar  with  a 
tale  which  saddened  all  who  heard  it — that  Dr.  Livingstone, 

312 


LIVINGSTONE  REPORTED  DEAD. 

the  great  African  traveler,  had  been  murdered  on  the  shores 
of  Lake  Nyassa,  by  a  band  of  the  Ma-zitus.  He,  Moosa,  alone 
of  all  Livingstone's  party,  had  escaped  to  convey  the  grievous 
tidings. 

The  following  is  the  copy  of  a  letter  written  by  Dr.  Seward, 
the  English  Qonsul  at  Zanzibar,  to  Lord  Stanley,  conveying 
the  particulars  of  Moosa's  story : 

ZANZIBAR,  Dec.  10,  1866. 

MY  LORD — I  send  you  the  saddest  news.  Dr.  Livingstone, 
in  his  despatch  from  Nyomano,  informed  your  Lordship  that 
he  stood  "  on  the  threshold  of  the  unexplored."  Yet,  as  if 
that  which  should  betide  him  had  already  thrown  its  shadow, 
he  added : — "  It  is  but  to  say  little  of  the  future." 

My  Lord — if  the  report  of  some  fugitives  from  his  party  be 
true,  this  brave  and  good  man  has  "  crossed  the  threshold  of 
the  unexplored  " — he  has  confronted  the  future  and  will  never 
return.  He  was  slain,  so  it  is  alleged,  during  a  sudden  and 
unprovoked  encounter  with  those  very  Zulus  of  whom  he 
says,  in  his  despatch,  that  they  had  laid  waste  the  country 
round  about  him,  and  had  "  swept  away  the  food  from  above 
and  in  the  ground."  With  an  escort  reduced  to  twenty  by 
desertion,  death  and  dismissals,  he  had  traversed,  as  I  believe, 
that  terra  incognita  between  the  confluence  of  the  Loende 
and  Kovuma  rivers,  at  Nyomano,  and  the  eastern  or  northeast- 
ern littoral  of  Lake  Nyassa ;  had  crossed  the  lake  at  some 
point  as  yet  unascertained ;  had  reached  a  station  named 
Kompoonda  or  Mapoonda,  on  its  western,  probably  its  north- 
western, shore,  and  was  pushing  west  or  northwest,  into  dan- 
gerous ground,  when  between  Marenga  and  Mukliosowa  a 
band  of  implacable  savages  stopped  the  way — a  mixed  horde 
of  Zulus,  or  Mafilte  and  Nyassa  folk.  The  Nyassa  folk  were 
armed  with  bow  and  arrow,  the  Zulus  with  the  traditional 
shield,  broad-blades,  spears  and  axes.  "With  Livingstone 
there  were  nine  or  ten  muskets ;  his  Johanna  men  were  rest- 
ing with  their  loads  far  in  the  rear. 

The  Mafilte  instantly  came  on  to  fight ;  there  was  no  par- 
ley, no  avoidance  of  the  combat ;  they  came  on  with  a  rush, 


31G  MOOSA'S  STORY. 

with  war  cries,  and  rattling  on  their  shields  their  spears.  As 
Livingstone  and  his  party  raised  their  pieces  their  onset  was 
for  a  moment  checked,  but  only  for  a  moment.  Livingstone 
fired  and  two  Zulus  were  shot  dead  ;  his  boys  fired  too,  but 
their  fire  was  harmless ;  he  was  in  the  act  of  reloading  when 
three  Mafilte  leaped  upon  him  through  the  smoke.  There 
was  no  resistance — there  could  be  none — and  one  cruel  axe- 
cut  from  behind  him  put  him  out  of  life.  He  fell,  and  when 
he  fell  his  terror-stricken  escort  fled,  hunted  by  the  Mafilte. 
One  at  least  of  the  fugitives  escaped  ;  and  he  it  is  who  tells 
the  tale — Ali  Moosa,  chief  of  his  escort  of  porters. 

The  party  had  left  the  western  shores  of  JSyassa  about  five 
days.  They  had  started  from  Kompoonda,  on  the  lake's  bor- 
ders (they  left  the  havildar  of  Sepoys  there  dying  of  dysentery  ; 
Livingstone  had  dismissed  the  other  Sepoys  of  the  Bombay 
Twenty-first  at  Mataka),  and  had  rested  at  Marenga,  where 
Livingstone  was  cautioned  not  to  advance.  The  next  station 
was  Mahlivoora ;  they  were  traversing  a  flat  country,  broken 
by  small  hills,  and  abundantly  wooded. 

Indeed,  the  scene  of  the  tragedy  so  soon  to  be  consummated 
would  appear  to  have  been  an  open  forest  glade.  Livingstone, 
as  usual,  led  the  way,  his  nine  or  ten  unpractised  musketeers 
at  his  heels.  Ali  Moosa  had  nearly  come  up  with  them,  hav- 
ing left  his  own  Johanna  men  resting  with  their  loads  far  in 
the  rear.  Suddenly  he  heard  Livingstone  warn  the  boys 
that  the  Ma-zitus  were  coming.  The  boys  in  turn  beckoned 
Moosa  to  press  forward.  Moosa  saw  the  crowd  here  and  there 
between  the  trees. 

He  had  just  gained  the  party  and  sunk  down  behind  a  tree 
to  deliver  his  own  fire  when  his  leader  fell.  Moosa  fled  for 
his  life  along  the  path  he  had  come.  Meeting  his  Johanna 
men,  who  threw  down  their  loads  and  in  a  body  really  passed 
Moosa,  his  escape  and  that  of  his  party  verges  on  the  marvel- 
ous. However,  at  sunset,  they,  in  great  fear,  left  their  forest 
refuge,  and  got  back  to  the  place  where  they  hoped  to  find 
their  baggage.  It  was  gone,  and  then,  with  increasing  dread, 
they  crept  to  where  the  slain  traveler  lay. 


MOOSA'S  STORY.  317 

Near  him,  in  front,  lay  the  grim  Zulus  who  were  killed 
under  his  sure  aim ;  here  and  there  lay  scattered  some  four 
dead  fugitives  of  the  expedition.  That  one  blow  had  killed 
him  outright ;  he  had  no  other  wound  but  this  terrible  gash. 
It  must  have  gone,  from  their  description,  through  the  neck 
and  spine  up  to  the  throat  in  front,  and  it  had  nearly  decapi- 
tated him.  Death  came  mercifully  in  its  instant  suddenness, 
for  David  Livingstone  was  ever  ready. 

They  found  him  stripped  of  his  upper  clothing  ;  the  Ma-zitus 
had  respected  him  when  dead.  They  dug  with  some  stakes 
a  shallow  grave,  and  hid  from  the  starlight  the  stricken  tem- 
ple of  a  grand  spirit — the  body  of  an  apostle,  whose  martyr- 
dom should  make  sacred  the  shores  of  that  sea  which  his  labors 
made  known  to  us,  and  which  now,  baptized  with  his  life's 
blood,  men  should  henceforth  know  as  "  Lake  Livingstone." 

The  names  of  those  who  stood  before  the  Ma-zitus  with 
Livingstone  should  not  be  unremembered  : — • 

ADAMS,  JAMES  CHOOMA, 

WALKER,  ABRAHAM  PARIELLA, 

SIMON  PRICE,  EDWARD  GARDNER, 

ALBERT  BURAHER,  LACOOMBO, 

MAEOWOH  JOOMA,  ALI  MOOSA. 

Of  these,  four  were  seen  dead  near  the  corpse  of  Living- 
stone ;  the  rest,  save  Ali  Moosa,  are  missing. 

The  Johanna  men  made  the  best  of  their  way  back  to 
Kompoonda,  or  Mapoonda,  not  venturing  near  any  village  or 
station.  They  lost  themselves  in  the  jungle  and  were  four- 
teen days  on  their  way.  At  Kompoonda  they  witnessed  the 
end  of  the  Havildar  of  Sepoys,  Bombay  Twenty-first  native 
infantry.  He  alone  of  all  the  Indians  was  faithful.  On  the 
threshold  of  this  Consulate  at  Zanzibar  he  pledged  himself  at 
the  moment  of  starting  never  to  forsake  his  leader.  Nor  did 
he.  To  the  last  he  struggled  on,  worn  with  dysentery,  but 
broke  down  hopelessly  on  the  road  to  Marenga.  A  day  or 
two  later  and  he  would  have  shared  his  leader's  fate.  Insub- 
ordinate, lazy,  impracticable  and  useless,  Livingstone  had  dis- 
missed the  other  Sepoys  at  Mataka.  Had  they  been  faithful, 


318  MOOSA'S  STORY. 

like  tlieir  Ilavildar,  I  should  not  have  had  to  inscribe  a  record 
of  this  sad  happening.  Their  imfitness  for  African  travel 
might  have  been  predicted. 

At  Kompoonda  the  Johanna  men  were  deprived  of  their 
weapons  by  the  chief,  who  also  kept  the  Havildar's.  Here 
they  joined  an  Arab  slave  caravan,  recrossed  the  Nyassa, 
and  made  for  Keelwa,  the  great  slave  outlet  on  the  Zanzi- 
bar coast.  But  here  again,  and  when  least  expected,  they 
encountered  the  Ma-zitus.  They  had  reached  Keepareygree, 
eight  days  southwest  of  Keelwa,  when  the  appearance  of  a 
baud  of  these  savages  scattered  the  caravan.  Abandoning 
ivory,  slaves,  their  all,  the  Arab  leaders  thought  but  of 
saving  their  lives.  The  Johanna  men  again  made  their 
escape  and  reached  Keelwa,  whence,  by  the  kindness  of  the 
Customs  people,  they  were  at  once  sent  on  to  Zanzibar. 
They  arrived  here  on  the  6th  of  December. 

It  will  be  gratifying  to  the  many  and  true  friends  of  Dr. 
Livingstone  to  learn  that  when  his  sad  end  was  known  the 
British  flag  was  lowered  at  this  Consulate  ;  the  French,  the 
American,  and  Hanseatic  flags  were  at  once  flown  half-mast 
high,  the  Consuls  paying  a  spontaneous  tribute  to  his  memory 
— an  example  shortly  followed  by  all  the  foreign  vessels  in 
the  harbor.  The  Sultan's  flag  was  also  lowered. 

I  must  reserve  other  details  for  a  subsequent  letter ;  but  I 
may  state  that  no  papers,  eifects  or  relics  of  Livingstone  are 
likely  to  be  recovered. 

G.  EDWARD  SEWARD. 

Such  was  the  story  of  Livingstone's  death,  as  told  by  Moosa 
on  his  return  to  Zanzibar.  Everybody  believed  or  feared  it 
was  true,  because  there  could  be  no  reason  suggested  for  unbe- 
lief. The  sorrow  felt  at  the  reading  of  this  dispatch  was  deep 
and  world-wide.  A  good  man,  a  brave  Christian,  the  most 
indefatigable  of  travelers  had  died  a  martyr,  just  as  he  stood 
on  the  threshold  of  the  unexplored. 

Dr.  Kirk,  of  Zanzibar,  a  companion  in  former  years  of  some 
of  Livingstone's  travels  in  South  Africa,  took  Moosa  under 
his  own  special  attention,  questioned  him  and  cross-examined 


THE  ENGLISH  SEARCH  EXPEDITION.  319 

him  in  every  way,  but  was  obliged  to  believe  liis  story,  and 
wrote  a  long  letter  confirming  Mr.  Seward's  dispatch.  And 
60  it  became  a  deep-settled  conviction  in  the  minds  of  almost 
all,  that  David  Livingstone,  the  great  traveler,  was  dead. 

But  the  story  was  doubted  by  Sir  Roderick  Murchison, 
President  of  the  Geographical  Society,  and  others,  including 
Mr.  Young,  an  African  traveler  or  trader,  who  testified  that 
he  had  once  a  servant  who  was  a  Mahometan,  who  was  a 
perfect  rascal  of  a  fellow,  -and  that  the  Mahometans  of  South- 
ern Africa  were  all  very  similar  in  disposition  and  character 
to  Ali  Moosa.  Mr.  Young  believed  the  story  to  be  a  cun- 
ning fabrication  ;  and  so  it  was.  Moosa  and  his  companions 
had  deserted  the  doctor,  and  without  such  a  tale  as  this  to 
justify  their  return  could  not  claim  their  pay  of  an  English 
Consul. 

An  expedition  to  search  for  Dr.  Livingstone  was  started 
in  England,  and  on  the  25th  of  July  1867,  the  steamship 
Petrel,  which  conveyed  the  party,  arrived  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Zambesi.  On  the  8th  of  August,  the  party,  with  Mr.  E. 
D.  Young  as  leader,  started  up  the  river  in  a  small  steel  boat, 
named  the  Search. 

On  the  4rth  of  September,  the  expedition  heard  that  a  white 
man  had  been  seen  at  Pamfunda,  on  Lake  Pamalombi,  and 
that  he  had  two  Ajawa  boys  with  him.  But  as  this  lake  is 
far  south  of  Lake  Nyassa,  it  was  barely  possible  that  Living- 
stone had  drifted  so  far  from  the  destination  agreed  upon 
before  the  Geographical  Society. 

On  the  7th  of  September,  Mr.  Young  arrived  at  Lake 
Pamalombi,  and  became  convinced  that  the  white  man  seen 
south  of  Lake  Nyassa  was  Livingstone  himself.  Livingstone 
had  not  gone  northward,  as  it  was  expected  he  would,  but 
to  make  his  travels  and  researches  complete  he  had  proceeded 
southward.  Thus  it  was  the  Doctor  was  found  out  in  several 
ways — by  his  naval  cap,  his  mustache,  his  size,  the  color  of 
his  hair,  and  the  goodness  that  never  left  him.  The  two  boys 
also  who  accompanied  him  were  instantly  identified  by  their 
names,  which  the  old  chief  remembered  as  Chuma  and  Wako 


320  ON  THE  EXPLORER'S  TRACK. 

(short  for  "Wakotani).  Moosa  was  also  known ;  the-  Havildar 
of  the  Sepoys,  and  a  little  dog  named  Chitani  were  recognized 
by  the  accurate  pantomimic  description  given  by  the  chief. 

On  the  10th  of  the  same  month  other  reports,  confirmatory 
of  those  previously  received,  were  hailed  by  the  "  searchers  " 
as  indubitable  proofs  that  Moosa's  story  was  an  able  and  most 
cunning  conception  of  a  brain  prompted  by  a  most  cowardly 
heart.  An  empty  cartridge  case  and  an  iron  spoon  of  Eng- 
lish make,  marked  "  Patent,"  were  brought  to  Mr.  Young.  A 
photographic  album  with  Livingstone's  picture  in  it,  was 
handed  to  one  of  the  natives,  who  remembered  the  "good 
white  man"  who  had  given  him  these  things,  and  he  was 
asked  to  show  the  man  among  all  those  pictures  who  mostly 
resembled  him.  The  native  turned  over  the  leaves  curiously, 
and  when  he  came  to  Livingstone's  said  triumphantly,  "  That 
is  like  him  ;  that  is  like  him,  only  his  dress  was  not  like  that." 

On  the  13th,  a  small  English  prayer  book  was  brought. 
Two  days  afterwards  a  knife  was  produced  to  the  searchers, 
which  the  natives  said  the  white  man  had  exchanged  for 
some  rice.  A  village  where  the  Ajawa  boy  Wakotani 
had  been  very  ill,  and  had  laid  several  weeks  while  the 
Doctor  had  continued  his  discoveries  northward,  was  found. 

Mr.  Young  crossed  Lake  Nyassa  at  the  Arab  ferry  where 
Dr.  Livingstone  crossed.  At  Marengas  an  account  of  a  white 
man  was  had,  who  was  immediately  identified  again  as 
Livingstone,  with  his  dog  and  his  servants,  from  a  native 
who  had  helped  him  over  with  his  luggage. 

Mr.  Young  was  directed  from  here  to  a  village  called 
Pacahoma,  where  the  white  man  had  only  seven  men  with 
him  carrying  guns— "Moosa  and  company  being  conspic- 
uously absent  in  this  enumeration  of  his  followers."  When 
Mr.  Young  told  the  people  at  Pacahoma  that  he  had  come 
to  look  after  him,  the  natives  said,  laughing,  "Why  he  is 
gone  to  the  Bahisa  country ;  how  are  you  to  catch  him  up  ? 
It  would  take  three  moon's  journey  to  reach  it." 

Mr.  Young  replied  that  he  had  heard  he  had  been  killed 
by  the  Ma-zitus;  but  they  said,  "Oh,  no;  why,  he  went  that 


THE  GRAVE  OF  MRS.  LIVINGSTONE.  321 

way  on  purpose  to  avoid  them,  and  we  know  he  went  far 
beyond,  where  it  would  take  month's  to  walk." 

On  the  25th  of  September  the  searchers  reached  Mapunda. 
At  this  place  a  book  entitled  "The  First  Footsteps  in  the 
Way  of  Knowledge  "  was  exhibited,  on  which  was  written. 
"  This  book  belongs  to  Wakotani ;  Bombay,  15th  December, 
1864."  The  boy  had  left  Mapunda — after  long  waiting  for 
Livingstone — for  the  coast. 

At  Chibissa,  on  the  Shire  River,  on  the  18th  of  October, 
the  party  of  Mr.  Young  heard  that  Dr.  Livingstone  had  shot 
one  of  the  principal  chiefs  of  the  Ma-zitu  tribe  in  an  encoun- 
ter he  had  with  him,  and  the  Ma-zitus  had  run  away  from 
him  in  consequence,  leaving  him  to  pursue  his  travels 
unmolested. 

"When  going  up  the  Zambesi  River  the  expedition  visited, 
at  Shupanaza,  the  grave  of  Mrs.  Livingstone — the  faithful 
and  courageous  wife  of  a  noble  man.  Along  both  banks  of 
the  Zambesi,  the  dark  natives  of  the  country  nocked  to  see 
their  friends,  the  English,  with  many  anxious  inquiries  as  to 
the  whereabouts  of  the  "  Father  "  (Dr.  Livingstone).  The 
good  seed  sown  by  this  eminent  missionary  had  fallen  on 
ground  where  it  brought  forth  fruit  abundantly.  Much  evil 
had  been  abolished,  and  blessed  tranquility  reigned  in  conse- 
quence in  many  portions  of  the  continent  which  he  had 
visited.  Much  of  the  slave  trade  had  diminished ;  in  short, 
Livingstone  had  morally  revolutionized  the  country. 

The  expedition  becoming  satisfied  that  Livingstone  was 
alive,  but  far  to  the  northward,  returned  to  Zanzibar. 

In  addition  to  the  information  obtained  by  this  expedition, 
something  was  known  concerning  Dr.  Livingstone  at  the 
time  Mr.  Stanley  reached  Zanzibar,  from  earlier  letters  writ- 
ten by  himself,  and  from  occasional  rumors  from  the  interior. 

The  following  letter  was  addressed  to  a  friend  in  Scotland. 
BEMBA,  Inner  Africa,  Latitude  10°  10'  South, 
Longitude  31°  50'  East,  March  2,  1867. 

I  have  been  unable  to  send  anything  to  coast  since  I  left 
it  till  now,  and  have  heard  nothing  from  the  coast.  We 


322  AN  OLD  LETTER. 

have  been  very  long  in  our  progress  hither,  but  I  think  we 
are  now  on  the  watershed  between  the  Zambesi  and  Isaputi, 
which  flows,  as  report  says,  into  Tanganyika.  I  have  only 
nine  following  me,  but  hope  to  get  on  in  time  and 
do  what  I  have  undertaken.  In  some  parts  we  had  plenty 
of  meat ;  I  could  easily  supply  the  pot  with  my  rifle.  In 
other  parts  nothing  could  be  procured,  and  we  had  to  go  on 
as  best  we  could.  It  is  the  rainy  season,  and  we  had  a  long 
trndge  through  dripping  forest,  with  the  soil  often  so  sloppy 
the  feet  were  constantly  wet.  This  was  made  worse  by 
want  of  food — not  of  fine  dishes,  but  of  even  a  little  por- 
ridge. The  people  could  not  sell  grain ;  they  were  subsist- 
ing themselves  on  mushrooms,  which  are  very  good  as  catsup, 
but  wretched,  watery  food,  producing  vivid  visions  of  the 
roast  beef  of  bygone  days.  Here  we  have  come  to  a  land 
where  food  is  to  be  bought,  and  mean  to  rest  a  little.  When 
we  get  to  Tanganyika  Lake  we  hope  for  news,  and  to  find  a 
second  supply  of  goods.  I  shall  write  to  you  from  thence. 

Tell that  his  dog  turned  out  a  famous  one,  and  I  was 

never  so  sorry  for  any  animal  as  when  we  lately  lost  him. 
He  had  more  spunk  than  fifty  country  dogs  ;  and  as  soon  as 
we  got  a  hut  in  a  village  he  kept  it  clear  of  all  curs,  and 
never  stole  himself.  He  was  as  much  of  an  attraction  as  the 
white  man  himself;  took  charge  of  the  whole  line  of  march, 
and  was  so  spirited  he  went  at  anything.  We  had  to  wade  a 
marsh  a  mile  wide  and  waist  deep — a  peaty  bottom,  with 
holes  made  by  buffaloes'  feet,  made  us  all  flounder.  I  went 
first  and  forgot  the  poor  doggie.  lie  must  have  swam 
among  the  dogs,  each  one  minding  himself  till  he  was 
drowned  ;  no  one  noticed  him.  I  am  unable  to  write  to  Dr. 
Wilson,  though  I  ought,  but  the  slave  trader  will  not  give 

me  more  time.     I  consumed  Mr. 's  extract  of  meat  from 

real  gnawing  hunger,  and  found  it  excellent.  I  have  lost  all 
my  medicines — the  sorest  loss  of  goods  I  ever  sustained. 
You  will  excuse  my  brevity.  The  slavery  party  leaves,  and 
I  must  write  several  letters. 

Blessings  from  the  Highest  be  on  you  all,  my  dear  friends. 

DAVID  LIVINGSTONE. 


RUMORS  FROM  THE  INTERIOR.  323 

In  the  month  of  April,  1867,  Livingstone  discovered  Lake 
Liemba,  south  of  Tanganyika,  and  going  westward  thence 
found  Lake  Moero  on  the  8th  of  September.  In  December, 
1867,  he  was  at  the  Cazembe's  town. 

From  this  point  he  made  an  attempt  to  go  northward  in 
the  country  west  of  Tanganyika,  intending  to  cross  the  lake 
to  Ujiji,  but  was  brought  to  a  standstill  by  the  abundance  of 
water  which  flooded  the  country,  and  returned  to  Cazembe's 
in  February  or  March,  1868 

Then  he  went  south  of  Lake  Bangweolo,  whence  he  sent 
his  last  important  letters  in  July,  1868. 

From  this  he  appears  to  have  repassed  the  Cazembe's  town, 
and  to  have  gone  north  to  Ujiji,  along  the  eastern  shore  of 
Tanganyika.  He  had  probably  made  an  excursion  to  the 
north  of  Tanganyika  before  this  time,  and  announced  his 
intention  of  going  to  Manyema,  on  the  west  of  Tanganyika, 
where  there  was  said  to  be  a  great  lake  to  which  the 
waters  of  the  western  drainage  converge. 

The  last  letter  received  from  Dr.  Livingstone  was  dated 
May  30,  1869,  from  Ujiji,  Lake  Tanganyika.  In  it  he  speaks 
of  the  unwillingness  of  the  Arab  traders  to  take  charge  of  his 
letters  to  Zanzibar.  He  writes  for  fresh  stores  and  men,  and 
says  that  in  the  meantime  he  may  explore  the  Manyema 
country  and  the  lakes  west  of  Tanganyika. 

In  June  1870,  the  English  government  granted  £1,000  to 
supply  him  with  fresh  stores  and  men — not  by  means  of  a 
relief  expedition  sent  from  England,  but  by  parties  of  natives 
sent  by  the  Consul  from  Zanzibar  to  the  interior.  One  only 
of  these  native  parties,  with  a  portion  of  the  stores,  had  suc- 
ceeded in  attaining  a  point  within  reach  of  Livingstone  at 
Manyema ;  but  neither  letters  from  Livingstone,  nor  proof  of 
the  stores  having  reached  him,  had  reached  Zanzibar.  The 
native  in  charge  of  the  stores  simply  stated  that  he  had  recei- 
ved a  letter  from  Livingstone  dated  October  15,  1870,  which 
letter  he  had  not  transmitted  to  Zanzibar.  It  was  doubted, 
therefore,  whether  the  traveler  had  been  provided  with  the 
means  either  of  continuing  his  explorations  or  returning  to 
17 


324  LOST  DISPATCHES. 

the  coast ;  and  it  was  probable  he  was  detained  against  his 
will. 

In  June,  1869,  according  to  information  received  by  Bishop 
Tozer,  at  Zanzibar,  Livingstone  was  still  at  Ujiji. 

In  June,  1870,  Sheikh  Said,  writing  from  Unyanyembe, 
gave  the  news  that  Dr.  Livingstone  had  gone  westward  to 
Manimes(Manyema,)  and  was  expected  to  return  soon. 

March  10,  1871,  Dr.  Kirk  had  letters  from  two  Arab  traders 
in  Ujiji,  announcing  that  Dr.  Livingstone  was  at  a  place 
named  Manakoso,  in  Menama  (Manyema),  with  Mohammed 
Bin  Gharib,  during  October  or  November,  1870,  "helpless, 
without  means  and  with  few  followers." 

Of  the  last  thirty-four  letters  which  Dr.  Livingstone  had 
written  to  Great  Britain  before  June,  1869,  not  one  came  to 
hand.  lie  was,  at  that  date,  about  to  explore  a  lake  which 
lies  westward  of  Tanganyika,  in  the  Manyema  country,  in  the 
hope  of  connecting  it  with  the  Nile.  A  report  reached  Eng- 
land at  the  end  of  1870,  that  he  was  at  Manakoso,  waiting  for 
supplies,  and  unable  to  move. 

The  above  is  about  all  that  was  known  concerning  Dr. 
Livingstone  at  the  commencement  of  the  year  1871,  when  the 
Herald  Expedition  for  his  aid  was  in  preparation  at  Zanzibar. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 
THE  HERALD  LIVINGSTONE  EXPEDITION. 

IN  an  age  when  philanthropic  sentiments,  through  the 
extension  of  Christianity  and  civilization,  are  on  the. 
increase,  a  fit  occasion  for  their  display  is  offered  in  the  perils 
of  a  bold  and  daring  explorer,  who,  taking  his  life  in  his  hand 
and  without  hope  of  pecuniary  reward,  goes  forth  in  the 
service  of  Humanity  and  his  Master.  The  life  of  such  a 
man  is  sacred  and  most  valuable,  and  his  death  a  great  loss 
to  all  the  nations  of  the  earth. 

Dr.  Livingstone  was  reported  dead — murdered  in  cold 
blood  on  the  shores  of  Lake  Nyassa  by  a  band  of  the  Mazitus, 
For  a  long  time  no  letters  had  been  received  from  him,  and 
nothing  definite  had  been  heard  respecting  him.  Although 
the  report  was  somewhat  indefinite,  it  was  sufficient  to  sadden 
the  thoughts,  to  moisten  the  eye,  and  to  send  a  pulsation 
to  the  great  heart  of  the  civilized  world. 

Such  an  event  was  not  at  all  improbable.  Alone  among 
savages,  who  could  at  any  moment  sacrifice  him  as  a  victim 
to  their  passions,  among  the  wild  beasts  of  the  forests  which 
tracked  his  every  footstep,  in  a  country  where  fevers  raged, 
malignant  diseases  prevailed,  and  storms  were  most  terrific, 
how  easily  his  life  could  have  been  taken  and  the  shadow 
of  death  fallen  upon  him,  had  he  not  been  protected  by 
a  wise  and  good  Providence. 

The  world  is  governed  by  ideas,  and  Providence  selects 
fit  occasions  and  men  for  their  illustration.  Although  the 
great  mass  of  people  believed  that  Livingstone  had  shared 

325* 


326  THE  HERALD  EXPEDITION. 

the  fate  of  many  other  renowned  explorers,  and  like  Sir  John 
Franklin  disappeared  to  be  seen  no  more,  there  were  some 
who  in  the  absence  of  material  facts  and  positive  testimony 
thought  otherwise.  Among  this  latter  class  was  James 
Gordon  Bennett  Jr.,  manager  of  the  New  York  Herald. 

The  intense,  popular,  and  scientific  interest  in  Livingstone's 
fate  and  in  the  vexed  problem  of  the  sources  of  the  Nile, 
suggested  to  Mr.  Bennett  the  grand  idea,  that  the  bounteous 
means  of  a  great  newspaper  might  be  worthily,  and  perhaps 
advantageously  employed,  in  the  humanitarian,  scientific,  but 
exceedingly  dangerous  and  expensive  task  of  discovering  the 
great  explorer.  To  Mr.  James  Gordon  Bennett  is  due  the 
.credit  of  originating  the  Herald  Expedition — an  enterprise 
unequaled  in  the  annals  of  journalism. 

The  objects  of  the  expedition,  as  stated  in  the  Herald,  were 
two.  "  First,  to  carry  relief  to  the  explorer,  in  the  confi- 
dence that  the  rumors  of  his  death  were  unfounded,  in  the 
fear  that  he  must  be  undergoing  privations  and  perhaps  ill 
treatment  in  his  unprotected  condition,  and  in  the  conviction 
that  it  needed  only  energy  and  courage  to  follow  the  track  he 
had  pursued  to  find  him,  if  living,  or,  in  the  sadder  event, 
to  obtain  certain  proof  of  his  death ;  and,  second,  to  secure 
the  credit  and  advantage  that  wrould  assuredly  follow  success 
in  such  an  enterprise." 

Having  determined  on  an  expedition  in  search  of  Dr. 
Livingstone,  Mr.  Bennett  naturally  selected  Henry  M. 
Stanley  as  a  fit  person  to  lead  it.  Mr.  Stanley  had  been  for 
several  years  on  the  staff  of  the  Herald  as  one  of  its  special 
traveling  correspondents.  In  1868  he  was  with  the  English 
Army  in  Abyssinia,  and  exhibited  such  enterprise  and  energy 
in  forwarding  the  war  news,  that  the  British  Government 
frequently  received  important  intelligence  through  his  dis- 
patches, in  advance  of  its  transmission  to  London  by  official 
couriers. 

In  1869,  Mr.  Bennett,  who  was  then  in  Paris,  sent  a 
dispatch  to  Mr.  Stanley,  who  was  in  Madrid  engaged  in  the 
service  of  the  Herald  as  a  correspondent  from  Spain,  summon- 


JAMES  GORDON  HEN'NETT. 


STANLEY  SUMMONED  TO  PARIS.  329 

ing  him  to  Paris.  Mr.  Stanley,  in  a  speech  at  Brighton,  as 
reported  in  the  London  Mail,  describes  his  interview  with 
Mr.  Bennett  and  the  circumstances  under  which  he  under- 
took the  expedition,  as  follows : — 

"  Before  I  started  for  Central  Africa  I  knew  nothing 
about  that  great  broad  plain  in  the  centre  of  the  Continent, 
and  I  cared  less  for  it.  My  duty  led  me  to  the  fields  of  jour- 
nalism ;  my  duty  carried  me  far  away  from  Central  Africa ; 
yet  had  I  even  dreamed  that  I  should  visit  the  heart  of 
Africa,  I  should  have  smiled  at  myself. 

While  following  my  duty  in  Madrid  I  received  a  tele- 
gram : — "  Come  to  Paris  on  important  business." 

1  found  Mr.  James  Gordon  Bennett,  the  young  manager 
of  the  New  York  Herald,  in  bed  at  the  Grand  Hotel.  I 
knocked  at  the  door;  he  said  "  Come  in,"  and  demanded  my 
name.  "  My  name  is  Stanley,"  I  said.*  "  Oh,  you  are  the 
man  I  want ;  do  you  know  where  Livingstone  is  ?"  I  said, 
"  I  declare  to  you  I  don't."  "  Do  you  suppose  he  is  alive  ?" 
"  I  really  don't  know."  "  What  do  you  think?"  "  It  is  past 
my  comprehension."  "  Well,  I  think  he  is  alive,  and  I  want 
you  to  find  him."  I  thought  it  was  a  most  gigantic  task, 
but  I  dared  not  say  so  to  Mr.  Bennett ;  so  I  said,  "  If  you 
send  me  to  the  centre  of  Africa  I  will  go  there,"  and  he  said, 
"  Well,  go.  I  believe  he  is  alive,  and  you  can  find  him." 
"  But,"  said  I,  "  Mr.  Bennett,  have  you  the  least  idea  how 
much  that  little  journey  will  cost  ?"  He  said,  "  What  will  it 
cost?"  "Well,  Burton  and  Speke's  expedition  cost  some- 
thing like  between  2,000?.  and  4,000?. ;  are  you  ready  to 
incur  that  expense  ?"  He  said,  "  Draw  1,000?.  now,  and 
when  that  is  finished  draw  another  1,000?.,  and  when  that  is 
finished  draw  another,  and  when  that  is  finished  draw 
another  1000?.,  but  find  Livingstone." 

What  could  a  man  in  my  position  say,  when  he  was  deter- 
mined I  should  go  and  find  him,  and  would  take  no  apologies 
and  excuses?"  I  said,  "What  is  in  the  power  of  human 
nature  to  do  I  will  do ;  I  will  bid  you  good  night."  I  had 
received  merely  verbal  instructions ;  I  had  never  read  in  any 


330  THE  HERALD  EXPEDITION. 

book  about  Central  Africa;  indeed,  I  believed  Dr.  David 
Livingstone  was  a  myth,  rather.  There  were  books  written 
about  him,  and  newspapers  were  talking  about  him,  and  all 
men  were  glorying  in  him  ;  still  the  man  was  not  living,  and 
I  thought,  therefore,  ho  must  be  a  myth. 

However,  that  same  night  I  was  on  my  way ;  but  first  of 
all  I  had  to  go  and  discover  the  operations  of  the  Suez 
Canal ;  secondly,  visit  the  temple  of  Solomon  underground, 
where  you  see  the  marks  of  the  Syrian  workmen ;  then  I 
had  to  go  to  the  Dead  Sea,  then  up  to  Damascus,  then  to 
Constantinople,  then  to  the  Crimea,  then  to  the  Caucasus, 
then  to  the  Caspian  Sea,  Persia,  Bagdad,  the  valley  of  the 
Euphrates,  and  finally  the  Mauritius. 

When  I  reached  Zanzibar,  and  began  to  study  books  on 
Central  Africa,  and  to  draw  up  an  estimate  of  the  cost  of 
my  expedition  in  search  of  Livingstone,  I  first  put  it  down 
at  $3,000,  but  I  had  to  increase  it  several  times  until  it 
reached  $20,000." 

The  object  proposed  was  one  worthy  of  Stanley's 
matured  powers  and  noblest  aims,  and  he  gave  himself  to 
the  task  of  preparation  with  the  zeal  of  a  votary.  What  dis- 
couragements, what  disappointments  lay  before  him  and 
were  to  enter  into  that  great  undertaking,  lie  could  not 
foresee  ;  nor  did  he  care.  With  him,  "  sufficient  to  the  day 
was  the  evil  thereof,"  and  having  been  selected  to  superin- 
tend and  carry  out  this  humane  and  stupendous  task,  ho 
commenced  it  with  a  will,  and  threw  into  it  all  his  energy 
and  enterprise. 

It  was  a  difficult  thing  for  Mr.  Stanley  to  decide  as  to 
whether  he  should  go  to  Zanzibar,  on  the  east  coast  of 
Africa,  or  to  Khartoum  at  the  confluence  of  the  two  Niles,  in 
upper  l^ubia.  If  he  went  one  way,  the  lost  explorer  might 
be  'coming  out  by  the  other.  He  had  nothing  definite  to 
guide  him  on  this  point.  Finally,  after  fulfilling  his  other 
engagements,  he  telegraphed  to  a  Greek  gentleman  at 
Khartoum  to  send  word  at  once  if  anything  should  be  heard 
from  Livingstone  in  that  quarter,  and  proceeded  to  Zanzibar. 


ARRIVAL  AT  ZANZIBAR.  33  j 

For  over  two  years  the  Herald  obtained  only  a  very- 
scanty  return  for  its  lavish  expenditures.  The  fact  was 
well  understood  that  it  had  set  an  expedition  on  foot,  but 
the  chances  of  success  in  a  field  where  so  many  others 
had  failed  were  few.  Even  now,  after  all  that  has  been 
accomplished,  we  cannot  see  how  a  larne  and  impotent  conclu- 
sion could  have  been  avoided,  if  Bennett  had  not  backed  the 
undertaking  with  extraordinary  liberality,  and  if  Stanley  had 
not  been  one  of  the  rare  living  exemplars  of  the  hopeful  doc- 
trine, that  in  the  bright  lexicon  of  youth  there  is  no  such 
word  as  fail. 

Having  reached  Zanzibar,  Mr.  Stanley  took  active 
measures  for  prosecuting  the  enterprise  zealously  and  fear- 
lessly. He  investigated  the  many  rumors  about  the 
explorer,  and  acquainted  himself  with  all  that  was  known 
about  him  since  he  left  Zanzibar  in  1866.  Mr.  Stanley 
arrived  at  the  conclusion,  that  though  he  might  really  know 
no  more  of  the  whereabouts  of  Dr.  Livingstone  than  people 
did  in  the  United  States,  still  he  had  better  reasons  for  judg- 
ing thereof,  and  he  believed  that  it  would  be  a  long  time 
before  Livingstone  would  be  seen,  and  that  he  would  eventu- 
ally return  by  way  of  the  River  Nile. 


CHAPTER  XX 
ZANZIBAR  AND  THE  MRIMA. 

The  island  of  Zanzibar,  situated  on  the  east  coast  of  Africa, 
a  few  degrees  below  the  equator,  is  forty  miles  long 
and  fifteen  miles  in  breadth,  and  is  the  metropolis  of  the 
Imaum  of  Muscat's  possessions  on  the  east  coast.  Its  popu- 
lation is  about  two  hundred  thousand,  made  up  of  Arabs, 
Sowily  Africans  and  negro  slaves.  The  town  of  the  same 
name  has  a  considerable  trade  with  Arabia  and  the  ports  of 
the  Red  Sea.  Like  all  the  islands  on  the  east  coast  of  Africa, 
Zanzibar  is  of  coral  formation  and  comparatively  low  ;  conse- 
quently it  is  often  seriously  damaged  by  the  action  of  the 
waves. 

On  the  15th  of  April  1872,  a  teriffic  hurricane  burst  over 
the  Island,  destroying  a  hundred  and  fifty  vessels  in  the 
harbor,  some  houses  in  the  town,  and  a  large  extent  of  the 
sugar  and  clove  plantations,  and  cocoanut  groves,  with  two 
hundred  of  the  native  people  killed.  The  storm  began  at 
six  o'clock  in  the  morning,  from  the  west-south-west,  but 
showed  its  utmost  violence  at  noon,  then  blowing  from  the 
south.  There  was  a  dead  calm  at  half -past  one,  but  at  half- 
past  two  began  a  furious  gale  from  the  north,  backing  tow- 
ards the  west ;  in  the  evening  it  subsided  to  a  moderate  breeze. 
The  Sultan  of  Zanzibar  lost  half  a  dozen  ships,  amongst 
which  was  the  Sea  King,  formerly  the  Shenandoah,  one  of 
the  steamers  built  in  England  for  the  Confederate  Southern 
States  of  America,  whose  depredations  are  included  with 

332 


TERRIBLE  HURRICANE.  335' 

those  of  the  Alabama  in  the  claims  now  pending  their  settle- 
ment by  treaty. 

The  Abydos,  which  had  brought  Lieutenants  Dawson  and 
Henn,  officers  in  charge  of  the  English  Expedition  from 
England,  was  saved  by  steaming  with  full  power  against  the 
storm,  to  ease  the  strain  on  her  anchors.  Lieutenant  Henn's 
sketch,  which  we  give  shows  the  scene  of  havoc  after  the 
storm.  The  Lobelia,  of  London,  was  on  shore,  lying  on  her 
broadside,  off  the  Custom  House  pier,  bilged  and  a  complete 
wreck.  The  steamer  Star  was  sunk  off  the  Sultan's  Palace. 
The  native  huts  were  almost  all  destroyed  ;  all  the  trees  were 
torn  mangled,  or  uprooted  ;  the  beach  was  strewn  with  wreck 
and  damaged  merchandise;  the  streets  were  blocked  with 
rubbish  of  all  kinds,  and  almost  every  large  house  was  more 
or  less  damaged.  This  is  the  first  hurricane  known  at  Zanzi- 
bar in  the  memory  of  the  present  generation. 

The  coast  country  opposite  the  island  of  Zanzibar,  and 
extending  from  the  towns  of  Mombasah  on  the  north  to 
Kilwa  at  the  delta  of  the  Rufiji  River  on  the  south,  is  known 
as  the  Mrima,  or  hill-land,  and  its  native  people  are  called 
the  Wamrima,  or  hill-men.  The  Mrima  has  no  history 
beyond  its  name,  and  is  so  designated  from  the  elevation 
of  the  coast. 

As  the  dhow  which  conveys  the  traveler  to  Bagamoyo, 
slowly  glides  out  of  Zanzibar  harbor,  the  traveler  has  a  fare- 
well view  of  the  whitewashed  mosques  and  houses  of  the 
Arabs,  the  cadjan-huts,  the  cocoa-grown  coast,  and  the  ruddy 
hills  striped  with  long  lines  of  cloves.  Then  the  white  sand- 
strip  seems  to  mingle  with  the  blue  ocean,  the  gleaming 
lines  of  red  cliff  drop  into  the  water,  the  land  fades  from 
emerald  to  brown  and  from  brown  to  hazy  purple,  the  trees 
seem  to  wade  in  the  waves,  and  finally  a  dimly  discernible 
cloud-like  ridge  is  all  that  remains  of  Zanzibar. 

"  There  is  something  peculiarly  interesting  in  the  first  aspect 
of  the  '  Mrima,'  On  one  side  lies  the  Indian  Ocean,  illimita- 
ble toward  the  east,  dimpled  with  its  '  anerithrnon  gelasma,' 
and  broken  westward  by  a  thin  line  of  foam,  creaming  upon 


336  VIEWS  FROM  THE  SEA. 

the  whitest  and  finest  of  sand.  It  dents  the  coast  deeply, 
forming  bays,  bayous,  lagoons,  and  back-waters,  where,  after 
breaking  their  force  upon  bars  and  black  ledges  of  sand 
and  rock,  upon  diabolitos,  or  sun-stained  masses  of  a  coarse 
conglomerate,  and  upon  strong  weirs  planted  in  crescent 
shape,  the  waters  lie  at  rest  in  the  arms  of  the  land  like  sheets 
of  oil.  The  points  and  islets  formed  by  these  sea-streams 
are  almost  flush  with  the  briny  surface,  yet  they  are  over- 
grown with  a  profuse  vegetation,  the  result  of  tropical  suns 
and  copious  showers,  which  supply  the  want  of  rich  soil. 
The  banks  of  the  back-waters  are  lined  with  forests  of  white 
and  red  mangrove. 

"When  the  tide  is  out,  the  cone-shaped  root-work  sup- 
porting each  tree  rises  naked  from  the  deep  sea-ooze; 
parasitical  oysters  cluster  over  the  trunks  at  water-level,  and 
between  the  adults  rise  slender  young  shoots,  tipped  with 
bunches  of  brilliant  green.  The  pure  white  sand  is  bound 
together  by  a  kind  of  convolvulus,  whose  large  fleshy  leaves 
and  lilac-colored  flowers  creep  along  the  loose  soil.  "Where 
raised  higher  above  the  ocean-level,  the  coast  is  a  wall  of 
verdure.  Plots  of  bald  old  trees,  bent  by  the  regular  breezes, 
betray  the  positions  of  settlements  which,  generally  sheltered 
from  sight,  besprinkle  the  coast  in  a  long  straggling  line 
like  the  suburbs  of  a  populous  city. 

"  The  monotony  of  green  that  clothes  the  soil  is  relieved 
in  places  by  dwarf  earth-cliffs  and  scaurs  of  rufous  hue,  and 
behind  the  foreground  of  littoral  or  alluvial  plain,  at  a  dis- 
tance varying  from  three  to  five  miles,  rises  a  blue  line  of 
higher  level,  conspicuous  even  from  Zanzibar  Island,  the 
sandy  raised  beach  now  the  frontier  of  the  wild  men.  To 
this  sketch  add  its  accompaniment ;  by  day,  the  plashing  of 
the  wave  and  the  scream  of  the  gull,  with  the  perpetual  hum 
and  buzz  of  insect  life ;  and,  after  sunset,  the  deep,  dead 
silence  of  a  tropical  night,  broken  only  by  the  roar  of  the  old 
bull-crocodile  at  his  resting-time,  the  qua-qua  of  the  night- 
heron,  and  the  shouts  and  shots  of  the  watchmen,  who  know 
from  the  grunts  of  the  hippopotamus,  struggling  up  the  bank, 


A  PORT  OX  THE  MRIMA.  337 

that  lie  is  quitting  his  watery  home  to  pay  a  visit  to  their 
fields," 

The  voyage  from  Zanzibar  ended,  the  traveler  lands,  if  the 
tide  is  out,  upon  half  a  mile  of  muddy  sand,  and  if  a  "  swell," 
is  carried  by  four  men  upon  a  kitanda,  or  cot,  which  is  slung 
along  the  side  of  the  craft. 

"  Arrived  at  the  strip  of  dry  ground  that  marks  the  limit 
of  the  tide,  you  are  let  down,  and  amid  the  shouts  of  the 
men,  the  shrieks  of  the  wome%  and  the  naive  remarks  of  the 
juvenile  population,  you  ascend  by  a  narrow  foot-path,  worn 
through  the  thick  jungle  and  through  the  millet-fields  which 
press  upon  the  tattered  palisade,  a  dwarf  steep  bank,  on  whose 
summit  the  settlement  lies.  Inside  the  fence  are  a  dozen 
pent-roofed  houses,  claret-chests  of  wattle  and  daub,  divided 
into  three  or  four  compartments  by  dwarf  party-walls  of  the 
same  material ;  each  messuage  is  jealously  separated  from  its 
neighbor  by  large  '  compounds,'  or  court-yards  appropriated 
to  the  women  and  children.  The  largest  timber  is  that  of 
the  mangrove ;  the  flying  thatch-roof,  so  raised  that,  though 
windows  are  unknown  the  interior  enjoys  tolerable  ventila- 
tion, is  of  jauli,  or  rude  cocoa-plaits,  and  under  the  long  and 
projecting  eaves,  which  rest  upon  strong  perpendiculars,  are 
broad  earth  benches,  divided  by  the  entrance,  and  garnished" 
with  mats;  these  form  the  shops  and  sitting-rooms  of  the 
settlement.  Some  houses  have  a  partial  second  story,  K&e  a,. 
ship's  bunk,  a  planking  supported  by  rafters,  and  use<J  as  a> 
store-closet  or  a  dormitory. 

"  Around  the  larger  habitations  cluster  masses  of  hovels, 
and  the  characteristic  African  haycock  huts.  "With  closed 
doors  in  still  weather,  these  huts  are  unendurable  to  a  Euro- 
pean ;  the  people,  however,  fearing  thieves  and  wild'  beasts, 
never  fail  to  barricade  themselves  within  at  night.  The  only 
attempt  at  masonry  in  the  settlement  is  the  '  gurayza,'  or  fort, 
a  square  of  lime  and  coralline,  with  store-rooms  for  the 
Banyan's  goods  below,  and  provided  with  a  ereneled  terrace 
for  watchmen. 

"In  the  'garrison-towns7  of  the  Mrima^  the  soldiers,  wha 


338  SOLDIERS  OF  THE  GARRISOX-TOWNa 

call  themselves  Balocli,  and  their  families  form  the  principal 
part  of  the  population.  Many  of  them  were  born  and  bred 
in  Arabia.  In  former  days  their  fathers  migrated  from  their 
starving  homes  to  Maskat,  in  the  Arab  dhows  which  visited 
their  ports  to  buy  horses  and  to  collect  little  cargoes  of  wheat 
and  salt.  In  Arabia  they  were  fakirs,  sailors,  porters,  and 
day-laborers,  barbers,  date-gleaners,  beggars,  and  thieves. 

"  The  Baloch  are  rather  hated  than  feared.  Loud  in  debate, 
and  turbulent  in  demeanor,  they  are  called  by  the  Arabs  a 
4  light  folk,'  and  are  compared  to  birds  fluttering  and  chirrup- 
ing round  a  snake.  In  camp  they  are  commanded  by  a 
jemadar,  and  live  the  life  of  the  Anglo-Indian  soldier  of  the 
past  generation,  drinking  beer  when  they  can  '  come  by  it.' 
smoking,  chatting,  and  arguing ;  the  younger  wrestle,  shoot, 
and  exchange  kit-,  and  the  silly  babbling  patriarchs,  with 
white  beards  and  venerable  brows,  tell  wondrous  tales  of 
scenes  long  gone  by,  and  describe  to  unbelieving  ears  the  ice 
and  snow,  the  luscious  fruits  and  the  sweet  waters  of  the 
mountains  and  valleys  of  far  Balochistan. 

"  The  other  items  of  the  population  are  the  "Wamrima — 
Western  negroids  of  a  mixed  Arab  and  African  descent,  who 
fringe  the  shore  in  a  thin  line.  These  '  coast-clans '  support 
themselves  in  idleness  and  comparative  luxury,  by  amicably 
plundering  the  down-caravans,  and  by  large  plantations  of 
cereals  and  vegetables,  with  which  they,  or  rather  their  slaves, 
supply  the  Island  of  Zanzibar,  and  even  the  shores  of  Arabia. 

"  The  "Wamrima  are  ruled  by  diwans,  or  headmen ;  these 
officials  are  subject  to  Zanzibar.  The  diwan  enjoys  the  priv- 
ileges of  'dash,'  fines  and  extortions;  he  has  also  certain 
marks  of  distinction.  At  the  ngoma  ku,  or  great  dance, 
•which  celebrates  every  event  in  this  land  of  revelry,  only  the 
diwan  may  perform  the  morris  with  drawn  sword  before 
the  admiring  multitude.  "With  this  amount  of  dignity  the 
diwan  naturally  expects  to  live,  and  to  support  his  family 
with  the  fat  of  the  land,  and  without  sweat  of  brow.  "When 
times  are  hard,  he  organizes  a  kidnapping  expedition  against 
a  weaker  neighbor,  and  fills  his  purse  by  selling  the  proceeds. 


ARRIVAL  OF  A  CARAVAN. 

But  his  income  is  derived  chiefly  from  the  down-caravans 
bringing  ivory  and  slaves  from  Unyamwezi  and  the  far  inte- 
rior. He  sends  large  armed  parties  of  his  kinsmen  and 
friends,  his  clients  and  serfs,  as  far  as  two  hundred  miles 
inland,  where  they  act  less  like  touters  than  highwaymen. 
By  every  petty  art  of  mercantile  diplomacy  they  induce  the 
caravan  to  enter  the  village. 

"  Arrived  within  two  marches  of  the  coast  town,  the  head 
of  the  caravan  calls  a  halt  till  the  presents  promised  by  an 
escort  of  touters  have  arrived  and  have  been  approved  of. 
He  then  delays  as  long  as  possible,  to  live  gratis  upon  those 
with  whom  he  proposes  to  deal.  After  a  time,  the  caravan 
enters  in  stately  procession.  Having  settled  the  exorbitant 
claims  of  the  headmen  and  the  charges  of  the  Zanzibar  gov- 
ernment, which  are  usually  levied  in  duplicate  by  the  local 
authorities,  the  barbarian  has  recourse  to  the  Indian  Banyan. 
Bargains  are  usually  concluded  at  night ;  to  a  civilized  man 
the  work  would  be  an  impossible  trial  of  patience.  A  lot  of 
two  hundred  tusks  is  rarely  sold  under  four  months.  Each 
article  is  laid  upon  the  ground,  and  the  purchaser  begins  by 
placing  handsome  cloths  under  the  point  and  bamboo  of  the 
tusk,  arid  by  covering  its  whole  length  with  a  third ;  these 
form  the  first  prequisites  of  the  seller. 

"  After  a  few  days,  during  which  rice  and  ghee,  sugar  and 
sweetmeats  must  be  freely  supplied,  commences  the  chaffer- 
ing for  the  price.  The  Banyan  becomes  excited  at  the  ridic- 
ulous demand  of  his  client,  screams  like  a  woman,  pushes 
him  out  of  doors,  and  receives  a  return  of  similar  treatment 
with  interest.  He  takes  advantage  of  his  knowledge  that 
the  African  in  making  a  bargain  is  never  satisfied  with  the 
first  offer,  however  liberal ;  he  begins  with  a  quarter  of 
the  worth,  then  he  raises  it  to  one  half,  and,  when  the  bar- 
barian still  hesitates,  he  throws  in  some  flashy  article  which 
turns  the  scale. 

"  The  Wamrima  are  of  darker  complexion,  and  are  more 
African  in  appearance  than  the  coast  Arabs.  The  popular 
color  is  a  dull  yellowish  bronze.  The  dress  is  a  fez,  or  a  Surat 


312  HALF-CASTE  ARABS. 

cap ;  a  loin-cloth,"  which  among  the  wealthy,  is  generally  an 
A  rub  check  or  an  Indian  print,  with  a  similar  sheet  thrown 
over  the  shoulders.  Men  seldom  appear  in  public  without  a 
spear,  a  sword,  or  a  staff';  and  priding  themselves  upon  the 
possession  of  umbrellas,  they  may  be  seen  rolling  barrels,  or 
otherwise  working  upon  the  sands,  under  the  luxurious  shade. 

"  In  early  youth,  many  of  the  girls  have  a  pretty  piquancy, 
a  coquettishness,  a  natural  grace,  and  a  caressing  look,  which 
might  become  by  habit  exceedingly  prepossessing.  In  later 
life  their  charms  assume  that  peculiar  solidity  which  is  said 
to  characterize  the  beauties  of  Mullingar,  and,  as  a  rule,  they 
are  shockingly  ugly. 

"  The  Castilian  proverb ,  says  that  the  English  woman 
should  be  seen  at  the  window,  the  French  woman  on  the 
promenade,  and  the  Spanish  woman  every  where — the  Afri- 
can woman  should  be  seen  nowhere,  or  in  the  dark.  The 
children  mostly  appear  in  the  graceful  costume  of  the  Belvi- 
dere  Apollo ;  not  a  few  of  them  have,  to  the  European  eye, 
that  amusing  prettiness  which  we  admire  in  pug-pups.  The 
uncle  sells  his  nephews  and  nieces  by  a  vested  right,  and 
Bociety  justifies  the  abomination.  *  "What !  exclaim  the  peo- 
ple, shall  a  man  want,  when  his  brothers  and  sisters  have 
children  ? ' 

"  Besides  the  Baloch  and  the  Wamrima,  the  settlements 
usually  contain  a  few  of  the  '  Washenzi,"  or  barbarians  from 
the  interior,  who  visit  them  to  act  as  day -laborers,  and  who 
sometimes,  by  evincing  a  little  disrespect  for  the  difference 
between  the  '  mine '  and  the  '  thine '  leave  their  heads  to  dec- 
orate tall  poles. 

"  The  Mrima  is  also  inhabited  by  half-caste  Arabs.  The 
coast  Arab  has  little  education.  In  early  life  he  aids  his 
father  in  the  shop  or  plantation,  and  gives  himself  up  to 
intoxication  and  intrigue.  After  suffering  severely  from  his 
excesses,  at  the  age  of  seventeen  or  eighteen  he  takes  unto 
himself  a  wife.  Estranged  from  the  land  of  his  forefathers, 
he  rarely  visits  Zanzibar,  where  the  restraints  of  semi-civili- 
zation, the  decencies  of  Oriental  society,  and  the  low  estinia- 


LIFE  OX  THE  MRiMA— "  SPEKE'S  FAITHFULS."  343 

tion  in  which  the  black  skin  is  held,  weary  and  irritate  him. 
His  point  of  honor  seems  to  consist  chiefly  in  wearing  pub- 
licly, in  token  of  his  Arab  descent,  a  turban  and  a  long  yellow 
shirt." 

The  mode  of  life  on  the  Mrima  is  simple.  Men  rise  early 
and  repair  to  the  shop,  the  hunt,  or  the  plantation ;  or,  fre- 
quently, they  waste  the  morning  going  from  house  to 
house  to  salute  the  neighbors.  They  enter  abruptly,  place 
their  spears  in  the  corner,  and  without  invitation  extend 
themselves  on  the  floor.  When  tired  with  conversation,  they 
take  "  French  leave."  Life  to  the  European  so  real  and 
earnest,  is  with  them  a  continued  scene  of  drumming,  dancing, 
and  drinking ;  of  gossip,  squabble,  and  intrigue. 

Kaole  and  Bagamoyo  are  little  ports  on  the  Mrima,  some 
two  miles  apart,  at  which  merchandise  from  Zanzibar  is  landed, 
and  from  which  caravans  for  the  interior  take  their  start. 
Speke  and  Grant,  and  Stanley  made  Bagamoyo  their  point  of 
departure.  Burton  and  Speke  started  from  Kaole.  As  one 
explorer  prepares  the  way  for  another,  Mr.  Stanley,  on  his 
journey  to  Unyanyembe,  Ujiji  and  Lake  Tanganyika,  doubt- 
less derived  much  benefit  from  studying  the  narrative  of  their 
journey  to  the  same  places.  As  the  reader,  too,  who  is  famil- 
iar with  Burton  and  Speke's  discoveries,  will  be  able  to  fol- 
low Mr.  Stanley's  narrative  more  understandingly  than  he 
otherwise  could,  a  synopsis  of  their  trip  to  Ujiji  is  here  given. 

Mr.  Stanley  was  also  fortunate  in  securing  the  services  of 
several  of  Burton  and  Speke's  most  faithful  men,  among 
whom  were  "  Seedy  Bombay,"  "  Bull-headed  Mabruki,"  and 
other  of  "  Speke's  Faithfuls."  They  considered  any  white 
explorer  as  a  "  brother  of  Speke's,"  and  gladly  joined  Mr. 
Stanley's  expedition.  Being  acquainted  with  the  ways  of 
white  men,  they  made  themselves  very  useful. 

It  will  interest  the  reader  also  to  know  that  Said  bin  Selim, 
governor  of  Unyanyembe  when  Stanley  arrived  there,  was 
the  caravan  captain  of  both  Burton  and  Speke's  and  Speke 
and  Grant's  expeditions. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 
BURTON  AND  SPEKE'S  JOURNEY  TO  UJIJI. 

BURTON  and  Speke's  Expedition  started  from  Kaole  on 
the  27th  of  June  1857.  An  African  caravan  takes  three 
departures  before  it  gets  fairly  under  way — the  little  start,  the 
great  start,  and  the  final  start  which,  in  this  case,  was  made 
on  the  1st  of  July  from  a  village  four  hours  march  from 
Kaole.  On  the  evening  previous  a  medicine-man  had  been 
summoned,  to  whom  a  Surat  skull-cap  was  offered  for  a  favor- 
able prophecy.  The  members  of  the  caravan  were  then 
called  together,  and  after  the  usual  ceremonies  the  Mganga 
announced  that  the  journey  would  be  prosperous — much  talk- 
ing, but  little  killing — successful  voyage  on  the  lake — plenty 
of  ivory  and  slaves — happy  return,  etc. 

The  caravan  consisted  of  five  asses,  thirty-six  Wanyamwezi 
porters ;  a  headman  named  Said  bin  Salim  with  several  of  his 
slaves ;  a  guard  of  native  Baloch  from  Zanzibar,  servants  of 
the  Sultan  commanded  by  a  jemadar;  Muinyi,  the  inter- 
preter ;  "  Seedy  Bombay  "  and  "  Bull-headed  Mabriki,"  gun 
carriers  of  the  travelers,  and  two  Portuguese  half-castes  as 
their  servants.  Then  there  were  ten  hired  slaves — "  Sons  of 
Ramji." 

Ramji  was  the  Banyan  clerk  of  the  customs  at  Zanzibar, 
and  his  "  sons  "had  been  received  by  him  as  collaterals  from 
their  parents  and  uncles,  who  had  forgotten  to  redeem  their 
pledges.  Some  thirty  of  the  garrison  at  Kaole  also  escorted 
them  during  the  first  twenty  days  of  the  journey.  "  It  was 
a  gallant  sight  to  see  the  Baloch,  as  with  trailed  matchlocks, 

344 


DEPARTURE  OF  THE  CARAVAN.  345 

and  in  bravery  of  shield,  sword,  and  dagger,  they  hurried  in 
Indian  file  out  of  the  Kaole  cantonments,  following  their 
blood-red  flag,  and  their  high-featured,  snowy -bearded  chief, 
the  "  Sahib  Mohammed  "-—  old  Mohammed.  Issuing  from 
the  little  palisade  of  Kaole,  the  path  winds  in  a  southwesterly 
direction  over  &  sandy  soil,  thick  with  thorns  and  bush,  which 
in  places  project  across  the  way.  Thence  ascending  a  wave 
of  ground  where  cocoas  and  the  wild  arrow-root  flourish,  it 
looks  down  upon  park  land  like  that  described  by  travelers  in 
Caffraria,  a  fair  expanse  of  sand  veiled  with  humus,  here  and 
there  growing  rice,  with  mangoes  a*nd  other  tall  trees  regu- 
larly disposed  as  if  by  the  hand  of  man." 

"  The  departure  from  Bomani  was  effected  on  the  1st  of 
July  with  some  trouble  ;  it  was  like  driving  a  herd  of  wild 
cattle.  At  length,  by  ejecting  skulkers  from  their  huts,  by 
dint  of  promises  and  threats,  of  gentleness  and  violence,  of 
soft  words  and  hard  words,  occasionally  backed  by  a  smart 
application  of  the  '  bakur ' — the  local '  cat ' — by  sitting  in  the 
sun,  in  fact  by  incessant  worry  and  fidget  from  6  A.M.  to 
3  P.  M.,  the  sluggish  and  unwieldy  body  acquired  some 
momentum. 

"  Nzasa  is  the  first  district  of  independent  Uzaramo.  Here 
I  was  visited  by  three  p'hazi,  or  headmen.  They  came  to 
ascertain  whether  I  was  bound  on  peaceful  errand  or  march- 
ing to  revenge  the  murder  of  my  '  brother,'  (M.  Maizan.) 
Assured  of  our  un warlike  intentions,  they  told  me  that  I 
must  halt  on  the  morrow  and  send  forward  a  message  to.  the 
next  chief.  I  replied  through  Said  that  I  could  not  be  bound 
by  their  rules,  but  was  ready  to  pay  for  their  infraction... 

"  During  the  debate  upon  this  fascinating  proposal,  for 
breaking  the  law,  Yusuf ,  one  of  the  most  turbulent  of"  the 
Baloch,  drew  his  sword  on  an  old  woman  because  she  refused, 
to  give  up  a  basket  of  grain.  She  rushed,  with  the  face  of  a. 
black  Medusa,  into  the  assembly,  and  provoked  not  very 
peaceable  remarks  concerning  the  peaceful  nature  of  our 
intentions.  When  the  excitement  was  allayed,  the  principal 
p'hazi  began  to  ask  what  had  brought  the  white  man.  into. 
18 


346  UPROAR  IN  THE  VAN. 

their  country,  and  in  a  breath  to  predict  the  loss  of  their 
gains  and  commerce,  their  land  and  liberty. 

" '  I  am  old,'  pathetically  quoth  the  p'hazi,  c  and  my  beard 
is  gray,  yet  I  have  never  beheld  such  a  calamity  as  this !' 

" '  These  men,'  replied  Said,  '  neither  buy  nor  sell ;  they 
do  not  inquire  into  price,  nor  do  they  covet  profit.  More- 
over,' he  pursued,  { what  have  ye  to  lose  f 

"A  present  opened  the  headmen's  hearts:  they  privily 
termed  me  Murungwana  Sana,  a  real  freeman,  and  detached 
Kizaya  to  accompany  me  as  far  as  the  western  half  of  the 
J£ingani  Valley.  At  4  P.  M.  a  loud  drumming  collected  the 
women,  who  began  a  dance  of  ceremony  with  peculiar  vigor. 

"  The  next  day  there  was  an  uproar  in  the  van  of  the  cara- 
•van  ;  Moiran,  a  petty  lord,  had  barred  the  road  with  a  dozen 
'men,  demanding  '  dash.'  Speke,  who  was  attended  only  by 
'Bombay,'  his  gun-carrier,  and  a  few  Baloch,  remarked  to 
the  iuterferers  that  he  had  been  franked  through  the  country 
by  paying  at  Nzasa.  To  this  they  obstinately  objected.  The 
Baloch  began  to  light  their  matches  and  to  use  hard  words. 
A  fight  appeared  imminent.  Presently,  however,  when  the 
"Wazaramo  saw  my  flag  rounding  the  hill-shoulder  with  a 
.fresh  party,  whose  numbers  were  exaggerated  by  distance,  they 
gave  way ;  and  finally,  when  Muinyi  Wazira  opened  upon 
:them  the  invincible  artillery  of  his  tongue,  they  fell  back  and 
^tood  off  the  road  to  gaze.  The  linguist  returned  to  the  rear 
in  great  glee,  blowing  his  finger-tips,  as  if  they  had  been 
attached  to  a  matchlock,  and  otherwise  deriding  the  overboil- 
ing valor  of  the  Baloch,  who,  not  suspecting  his  purport, 
indulged  in  the  wildest  outbreak  of  boasting,  offering  at  once 
to  take  the  whole  country  and  to  convert  me  into  its  sultan. 

"Several  down-caravans  were  halted  at  Tumba  There.  The 
slaves  brought  from  the  interior  were  tied  together  by  their 
necks,  and  one  obstinate  deserter  was  so  lashed  to  a  forked 
pole  with  the  bifurcation  under  his  chin,  that  when  once  on 
the  ground  he  could  not  rise  without  assistance.  These 
wretches  scarcely  appeared  to  like  the  treatment ;  they  were 
not,  however,  in  bad  condition. 


A  WILD  DAY.  34-7 

"  On  the  6th  of  July,  we  entered  the  fine  grain-fields  that 
gird  the  settlements  of  Muhogwe,  one  of  the  most  dreaded  in 
dreaded  Uzaramo.  In  our  case,  however,  the  only  peril  was 
the  levee  in  masse  of  the  fair  sex  in  the  villages,  to  stare, 
laugh,  and  wonder  at  the  white  men.  '  What  should  you 
think  of  these  whites  as  husbands  ?'  asked  Muinyi  Wazira  of 
the  crowd.  '  With  such  things  on  their  legs  ?  Sivyo  !  not 
by  any  means !'  was  the  unanimous  reply,  accompanied  with 
peals  of  merrriment. 

"  On  the  8th  of  July  we  fell  into  the  malarious  river  plain 
of  the  Kingani  River.  It  was  a  wild  day.  From  the  black 
brumal  clouds  driven  before  furious  blasts  battered  rain-drops 
like  musket  bullets,  splashing  the  already  saturated  ground. 
The  tall  stiff  trees  groaned  and  bent  before  the  gusts ;  the 
birds  screamed  as  they  were  driven  from  their  perching-places ; 
the  asses  stood  with  heads  depressed,  ears  hung  down,  and 
shrinking  tails  turned  toward  to  the  weather,  and  even  the 
beasts  of  the  wild  seemed  to  have  taken  refuge  in  their  dens. 
"At  the  junction  of  the  Mbuamaji  trunk-road  with  the  other 
lines  branching  from  various  minor  sea-ports,  Speke  found  his 
passage  barred  by  about  fifty  Wazaramo  standing  across  the 
path  in  a  single  line  that  extended  to  the  travelers'  right, 
while  a  reserve  party  squatted  on  the  left  of  the  road.  Their 
chief  stepping  to  the  front  and  quietly  removing  the  load 
from  the  foremost  porter's  head,  signaled  the  strangers  to 
halt.  Prodigious  excitement  of  the  Baloch,  whose  loud  '  Hai, 
hui !'  and  nervous  anxiety  contrasted  badly  with  the  perfect 
sang  froid  of  the  barbarians.  Presently  Muinyi  Wazira, 
coming  up,  addressed  to  the  headman  a  few  words,  promising 
cloth  and  beads,  when  this  African  modification  of  the  'pike' 
was  opened,  and  the  guard  moved  forward  as  before.  As  I 
passed,  the  Wazaramo  stood  under  a  tree  to  gaze.  I  could 
not  but  admire  the  athletic  and  statuesque  figures  of  the 
young  warriors  and  their  martial  attitude,  grasping  in  one 
hand  their  full-sized  bows,  and  in  the  other  sheaths  of  grinded 
arrows,  whose  black  barbs  and  necks  showed  a  fresh  layer  of 
poison. 


348  MURDER  OF  A  FRENCH  EXPLORER. 

"  On  the  eleventh  day  after  leaving  Kaole,  I  was  obliged 
to  mount  by  a  weakness  which  scarcely  allowed  me  to  stand. 
We  passed  a  well-palisaded  village,  belonging  formerly  to 
Mazungera,  and  now  occupied  by  his  son  Ilembe.  Reports 
of  our  warlike  intentions  had  caused  Ilembe  to  '  clear  decks 
for  action ;'  the  women  had  been  sent  from  the  village,  and 
some  score  of  tall  youths,  archers  and  spearmen,  admirably 
appointed,  lined  the  hedges,  prepared,  at  the  leveling  of  the 
first  matchlock,  to  let  loose  a  flight  of  poisoned  arrows,  which 
would  certainly  have  dispersed  the  whole  party.  A  halt  was 
called  by  the  trembling  Said,  who  at  such  conjunctures  would 
cling  like  a  woman  to  my  companion  or  to  me.  Daring  the 
few  minutes'  delay  the  '  sons  of  Eamji,'  who  were  as  pale  aa 
blacks  could  be,  allowed  their  asses  to  bump  off  half  a  dozen 
loads.  Presently  Ilembe,  accompanied  by  a  small  guard, 
came  forward,  and  after  a  few  words  with  "Wazira  and  Said, 
the  donkey,  from  which  I  had  not  dismounted,  was  hurried 
forward  by  the  Baloeh." 

This  village,  Dege  la  Mhora,  was  the  place  whereM.  Maizan 
the  French  explorer,  was  murdered  in  1845.  He  had  come  to 
visit  Mazungera  escorted  by  Frederique,  a  Madagascar  man  and 
a  few  followers.  "After  some  days  of  the  most  friendly  inter- 
course, during  which  the  villain's  plans  were  being  matured, 
Mazungera,  suddenly  sending  for  his  guest,  reproached  him 
as  he  entered  the  hut  with  giving  away  goods  to  other  chiefs. 
Presently  working  himself  into  a  rage,  the  African  exclaimed, 
'  Thou  shalt  die  at  this  moment !'  At  the  signal  a  crowd  of 
savages  rushed  in,  bearing  two  long  poles.  Frederique  was 
saved  by  the  p'hazi's  wife  :  he  cried  to  his  master  to  run  and 
touch  her,  in  which  case  he  would  have  been  tinder  her  pro- 
tection ;  but  the  traveler  had  probably  lost  his  presence  of 
mind,  and  the  woman  was  removed.  The  unfortunate  man's 
arms  were  tightly  bound  to  a  pole  lashed  crosswise  upon 
another,  to  which  his  legs  and  head  were  secured  by  a  rope 
tied  across  the  brow.  In  this  state  he  was  carried  out  of  the 
village  to  a  calabash-tree,  and  inhumanly  murdered. 

"The  lower  portion  of  the  Mgeta's  bed  was  unfordable  after 


CROSSING  TBE  MGETA.  351 

the  heavy  rains:  other  caravans, however,  had  made  a  rude 
bridge  of  trees,  felled  on  each  side,  lashed  with  creepers,  and 
jammed  together  by  the  force  of  the  current.  The  men, 
perched  upon  the  trunks  and  boughs,  tossed  or  handed  to  one 
another  the  loads  and  packages  while  the  asses,  pushed  by 
force  of  arm  down  the  banks,  were  driven  with  sticks  and 
stones  across  the  stream.  Suddenly  a  louder  cry  than  usual 
arose  from  the  mob  ;  my  double-barreled  elephant-gun  found 
a  grave  below  the  cold  and  swirling  wraters. 

"  Resuming  our  march  on  the  15th  July,  we  entered  the 
*  Doab,'  on  the  western  bank  of  the  Mgeta,  where  a  thick  and 
tangled  jungle,  with  luxuriant  and  putrescent  vegetation,  is 
backed  by  low  grassy  grounds,  frequently  inundated.  Pres- 
ently, however,  the  dense  thicket  opened  out  into  a  fine  park 
country,  peculiarly  rich  in  game,  where  the  calabash  and  the 
giant  trees  of  the  sea-board  gave  way  to  mimosas,  gums,  and 
stunted  thorns.  Large  gnus,  whom  the  porters  regard  with 
wholesome  awe,  declaring  that  they  are  capable  of  charging 
a  caravan,  pranced  about,  pawing  the  ground,  and  shaking 
their  formidable  manes  ;  hartebeest  and  other  antelopes  clus- 
tered together  on  the  plain,  or  traveled  in  herds  to  slake  their 
thirst  at  the  river. 

The  travelers  were  detained  at  Dut'humi  a  week,  both  of 
them  being  down  with  fever.  They  resumed  their  journey 
on  the  24th  of  July,  being  carried  in  hammocks  slung  on  poles 
and  carried  by  slaves  who  were  there  hired  as  porters. 

"On  the  next  day  we  came,  after  a  long  tramp,  to  the 
nearest  outposts  of  the  Zungomero  district ;  here  were  sev- 
eral caravans  with  pitched  tents,  piles  of  ivory  and  crowds  of 
porters.  The  gang  of  thirty-six  Wanyamwezi,  who  had  pre- 
ceded us,  having  located  themselves  at  a  distant  hamlet,  we 
resumed  our  march,  and  presently  were  met  by  a  number  of 
our  men  headed  by  their  guard,  the  two  '  sons  of  Ramji.' 
Ensued  a  general  sword  and  spear  play,  each  man  with  howls 
and  cheers  brandished  his  blade  or  vibrated  his  missile,  rush- 
ing about  in  all  directions,  and  dealing  death  among  ideal  foes 
with  such  action  as  may  often  be  observed  in  poultry-yards 


352  ZUNGOMERO. 

when  the  liens  indulge  in  a  little  merry  pugnacity.  The 
inarch  had  occupied  us  four  weeks — about  double  the  usual 
time— and  the  porters  had  naturally  begun  to  suspect  acci- 
dents from  the  Wazaramo. 

"Zungomero,  the  head  of  the  great  river-valley,  is  a  plain 
of  black  earth  and  sand,  prodigiously  fertile.  It  is  the  great 
bandari  or  centre  of  traffic  in  the  eastern,  as  are  Unyanyembe 
and  Ujiji  in  the  middle  and  the  western  regions.  Lying 
upon  the  main  trunk-road,  it  must  be  traversed  by  the  up  and 
down  caravans,  and,  during  the  traveling  season,  between 
June  and  April,  large  bodies  of  some  thousand  men  pass 
through  it  every  week. 

"  The  Arab  merchants  usually  pitch  tents,  preferring  them 
to  the  leaky  native  huts,  full  of  hens  and  pigeons,  rats  and 
mice,  snakes  and  lizards,  crickets  and  cockroaches,  gnats  and 
flies,  and  spiders  of  hideous  appearance,  where  the  inmates 
are  often  routed  by  swarms  of  bees,  and  are  ever  in  imminent 
danger  of  fires.  The  armed  slaves  accompanying  the  caravan 
seize  the  best  huts,  which  they  either  monopolize  or  share 
with  the  hapless  inmates,  and  the  porters  stow  themselves 
away,  under  the  projecting  eaves  of  the  habitations.  The 
main  attraction  of  the  place  is  the  plenty  of  provisions. 

"  The  first  country  west  of  the  Mrima  is  Uzaramo ;  next 
comes  Khuta,  at  the  westerly  side  of  which  is  Zungomero. 
The  principal  inhabitants  of  this  section,  are  the  Wazaramo 
and  the  AVakhuta,  the  latter  a  timid  race  have  no  Sultan,  and 
are  much  abused  by  bands  of  touters  from  the  coast  towns. 
Their  settlements  are  composed  of  a  few  straggling  hovels  of 
the  humblest  description,  with  doors  little  higher  than  an 
English  pig-sty,  and  eaves  so  low  that  a  man  can  not  enter 
them  except  on  all  fours.  In  the  middle  of  the  settlement 
there  is  usually  a  tall  tree,  under  which  the  men  lounge  upon 
cots  scarcely  large  enough  for  an  English  child ;  and  where 
the  slaves,  wrangling  and  laughing,  husk  their  holcus  in  huge 
wooden  mortars.  These  villages  can  scarcely  be  called  per- 
manent :  even  the  death  of  a  chief  causes  them  to  be  aban- 


THE  WAZARAMO.  353 

doned,  and  in  a  few  months  long  grass  waves  over  the  circlets 
of  charred  stakes  and  straw. 

"  The  "Wazaramo  are  a  noisy,  violent  and  impracticable 
race.  Sometimes  they  act  as  porters  to  Arabs.  The  p'hazi 
usually  fills  a  small  village  with  his  wives  and  families ;  he 
has  also  large  estates,  and  he  personally  superintends  the 
the  labor  of  his  slave  gangs.  He  can  not  sell  his  subjects 
except  for  two  offenses  — ugoni  or  adultery,  and  uchawi  or 
black  magic.  The  latter  crime  is  usually  punished  by  the 
stake ;  in  some  parts  of  the  country  the  roadside  shows  at 
every  few  miles  a  heap  or  two  of  ashes,  with  a  few  calcined 
and  blackened  human  bones  mixed  with  bits  of  half  consumed 
charcoal,  telling  the  tragedy  that  has  been  enacted  there. 
Here  and  there,  close  to  the  larger  circles  where  the  father 
and  mother  have  been  burnt,  a  smaller  heap  shows  that  some 
wretched  child  has  shared  their  terrible  fate,  lest  growing  up 
he  should  follow  in  his  parents'  path. 

"  The  East  Africans,  are  fond  of  calling  their  children  after 
Arabs  and  other  strangers ;  they  will  even  pay  a  sheep  for 
the  loan  of  a  merchant's  name.  There  must  be  many  hun- 
dred Sayyid  Saids  and  Sayyid  Majids  now  in  the  country ; 
and  as  during  the  eighteen  months'  peregrination  of  the  East 
African  Expedition  every  child  born  on  and  near  the  great 
trunk-line  was  called  Muzungu,  the  '  white,'  the  Englishman 
has  also  left  his  mark  in  the  land." 

The  party  halted  at  Zungomero  two  weeks  to  obtain  new 
porters,  and  left  there  on  the  Tth  of  August.  "  Life  at  Zun- 
gomero, was  the  acme  of  discomfort.  The  weather  was,  as 
usual  at  the  base  of  the  mountains,  execrable  ;  pelting  show- 
ers descended  in  a  succession,  interrupted  only  by  an  occa- 
sional burst  of  fiery  sunshine,  which  extracted  steam  from  the 
thick  covert  of  grass,  bush,  and  tree.  The  party,  dispersing 
throughout  the  surrounding  villages — in  which,  it  was  said, 
about  one  thousand  travelers  were  delayed  by  the  inunda- 
tions— drank  beer,  smoked  bhang,  quarreled  among  them- 
selves, and.  by  their  insolence  and  violence,  caused  continual 
complaints  on  the  part  of  the  villagers. 


354:  -A.  CHANGE  OF  SCENE. 

"From    Central    Zungomero    to    the    nearest    ascent   of 

o 

the  Usagara  Mountains  is  a  march  of  nearly  five  hours. 
About  noon  we  diverged  a  few  yards  from  the  Mgeta,  and 
ascended  the  incline  of  the  first  gradient  in  Usagara,  rising 
about  300  feet  from  the  plain  below.  This,  the  frontier  of 
the  second  region,  or  ghauts,  and  the  debris  encumbering  the 
lowest  escarpment,  is  called  Mzizi  Mdogo. 

"  There  was  a  wondrous  change  of  climate  at  Mzizi  Mdogo; 
strength  and  health  returned  as  if  by  magic.  Truly  delicious 
was  the  escape  from  the  cruel  climate  of  the  river  valley,  to 
the  pure  sweet  mountain-air.  Dull  mangrove,  dismal  jungle, 
and  monotonous  grass,  were  supplanted  by  tall  solitary  trees, 
among  which  the  lofty  tamarind  rose  conspicuously  graceful, 
and  a  card-table-like  swamp,  cut  by  a  net-work  of  streams, 
nullahs,  and  stagnant  pools,  gave  way  to  dry,  healthy  slopes, 
with  short  steep  pitches  and  gently  shelving  hills.  The  beams 
of  the  large  sun  of  the  equator — and  nowhere  have  I  seen  the 
rulers  of  night  and  day  so  large — danced  gaily  upon  blocks  and 
pebbles  of  red,  yellow,  and  dazzling  snowy  quartz,  and  the 
bright  sea-breeze  waved  the  summits  of  the  trees,  from  which 
depended  graceful  llianas,  and  wood-apples  large  as  melons, 
while  creepers,  like  vine  tendrils,  rising  from  large  bulbs  of 
brown-gray  wood,  clung  closely  to.  their  stalwart  trunks. 
Monkeys  played  at  hide-and-seek,  chattering  behind  the  bolls, 
as  the  iguana,  with  its  painted  scale-armor,  issued  forth  to 
bask  upon  the  sunny  bank ;  white-breasted  ravens  cawed  when 
disturbed  from  their  perching-places ;  doves  cooed  on  the  well- 
clothed  boughs,  and  hawks  soared  high  in  the  transparent  sky. 
The  field-cricket  chirped  like  the  Italian  cigala  in  the  shady 
bush,  and  everywhere,  from  air,  from  earth,  from  the  hill 
slopes  above,  and  from  the  marshes  below,  the  hum,  the  buzz, 
and  the  long  continuous  voice  of  insect  life,  through  the  length 
of  the  day,  spoke  out  its  natural  joy.  Our  gypsy  encamp 
ment  lay 

'By  shallow  rivers,  to  whose  falls 
Melodious  birds  sing  madrigals.' 

"  By  night,  the  soothing  murmurs  of  the  stream  at  the  hill's 


DESERTED  BY  THE  GUARD.  355 

base  rose  mingled  with  the  faint  mstling  of  the  breeze,  which 
at  times  broken  by  the  scream  of  the  night-heron,  the  bellow 
of  the  bull-frog  in  his  swampy  home,  the  cynhyena's  whim- 
per, and  the  fox's  whining  bark,  sounded  through  the  silence 
most  musical,  most  melancholy.  Instead  of  the  cold  night 
rain,  and  the  soughing  of  the  blast,  the  view  disclosed  a  peace- 
ful scene,  the  moonbeams  lying  like  sheets  of  snow  upon  the 
ruddy  highlands,  and  the  stars  hanging  like  lamps  of  gold 
from  the  dome  of  infinite  blue.  1  never  wearied  with  con- 
templating the  scene,  for,  contrasting  with  the  splendors 
around  me,  still  stretched  in  sight  the  Slough  of  Despond,  un- 
happy Zungomero,  lead-colored  above,  mud-colored  below, 
wind-swept,  fog-veiled,  and  deluged  by  clouds  that  dared  not 
approach  these  delectable  mountains." 

"  Zonhwe  was  the  turning-point  of  the  expedition's  difficul- 
ties. Another  ass  had  died,  reducing  the  number  to  twenty- 
three,  and  the  Baloch,  at  first  contented  with  two,  doubled 
their  requirements,  and  on  the  14th  of  August  took  a  fifth, 
besides  placing  their  powder  on  our  hard-wrorked  animals.  I 
therefore  proposed  to  the  jemadar  that  the  cloth,  the  beads, 
and  the  other  similar  luggage  of  his  men,  should  be  packed, 
sealed  up,  and  inserted  into  the  porter's  loads,  of  which  sev* 
eral  had  shrunk  to  half  weight.  While  I  was  explaining  the 
object  of  the  measure,  the  escort  appeared  in  mass,  and,  with 
noise  sufficient  for  a  general  action,  ostentatiously  strewed 
their  old  clothes  upon  the  ground,  declaring  that  at  Zanzibar 
they  were  honorable  men.  The  jemadar  accused  me  of  starv- 
ing the  party.  I  told  him  not  to  eat  abominations,  upon 
which,  clapping  hand  to  hilt,  he  theatrically  forbade  me  to 
repeat  the  words.  Being  prostrated  at  the  time  by  fever,  I 
could  only  show  him  how  little  dangerous  he  was  by  using 
the  same  phrase  half  a  dozen  times.  He  then  turned  fiercely 
upon  the  timid  Said  bin  Salim,  and  having  safely  vented  the 
excels  of  his  wrath,  he  departed  to  hold  a  colloquy  with  his 
men. 

"  Presently  Said  bin  Salim  was  deputed  by  them  to  state 
that  for  the  future  they  would  require  one  sheep  per  diem — 


356  RETURN  OF  THE  DESERTERS. 

men  who,  when  at  Zanzibar,  saw  flesh  probably  once  a  year 
on  the  Eed.  This  being  inadmissible,  they  demanded  three 
cloths  daily  instead  of  one.  They  declared  that  in  case  of 
refusal  they  would  sleep  at  the  village,  and  on  the  next  day 
would  return  to  Zanzibar.  Receiving  a  contemptuous  answer, 
they  marched  away  in  a  body,  noisily  declaring  that  they  were 
going  to  make  instant  preparation  for  departure. 

"After  the  disappearance  of  the  Baloch,  the  sons  of  Ramji 
were  summoned.  The  slaves,  when  they  heard  the  state  of 
the  case,  cheerfully  promised  to  stand  by  us,  but  on  the  same 
evening,  they  agreed  to  follow  the  example  of  the  escort  on 
the  first  justifiable  occasion.  I  did  not  learn  this  till  some 
days  afterward,  and  even  if  I  had  been  told  it  on  the  spot  it 
would  have  mattered  little.  My  companion  and  I  had  made 
up  our  minds,  in  case  of  the  escort  and  the  slaves  deserting,  to 
bury  our  baggage,  and  to  trust  ourselves  in  the  hands  of  the 
Wanyamwezi  porters. 

"A  march  was  ordered  for  the  next  day — the  17th  of 
August.  As  the  asses  were  being  loaded,  appeared  the  one- 
eyed  jemadar,  with  Gray-beard  Musa  and  Darwaysh,  looking 
more  crestfallen  and  foolish  than  they  had  ever  looked  before. 
They  took  my  hand  with  a  polite  violence,  begged  suppliantly 
for  a  paper  of  dismissal  to  '  cover  their  shame,'  and  declared 
that,  so  far  from  deserting  me,  I  was  deserting  them.  As  this 
required  no  reply,  I  mounted  and  rode  on. 

"  About  noon,  I  lay  down  half-fainting  in  the  sandy  bed  of 
the  Mnhama  Nullah — and  retaining  Wazira  and  Mabruki,  I 
urged  the  caravan  forward,  that  my  companion  might  send 
me  back  a  hammock  from  the  halting-place.  Suddenly 
appeared  the  whole  body  of  deserters  shouldering — as  porters 
and  asses  had  been  taken  from  them — their  luggage,  which 
outwardly  consisted  of  cloth,  dirty  rags,  green  skins,  old 
earthen  pots,  and  greasy  gourds  and  calabashes.  They  led 
me  to  a  part  of  the  nullah  where  stagnant  water  was  found, 
and  showing  abundant  penitence,  they  ever  and  anon, 
attempted  excuses,  which  were  reserved  for  consideration. 
At  3  P.M.,  the  hammock  appearing,  I  remounted,  and  pur- 


THE  AFTERNOON  MARCH.  357 

sued  a  path  over  rolling  ground,  which  renewed  the  scenery 
of  the  'Slough  of  Despond' — Zungomero.  Then  appeared  on  a 
hill-side  the  kraal  in  which  the  caravan  had  halted ;  the  party 
had  lost  the  road,  and  had  been  dispersed  by  a  swarm  of  bees, 
an  accident  even  more  frequent  in  East  Africa  than  in  India. 

"Next  morning  the  Baloch  professed  themselves  profoundly 
penitent,  and  attributing  their  unsoldierlike  conduct  to  opium 
and  to  the  wiswas,  the  temptations  of  Sathanas,  they  promised 
to  reform.  The  promise  was  kept  till  we  reached  Ugogo. 

"  We  left  Kadetamare  on  the  25th  of  August,  to  ascend  the 
valley  of  the  Mukondokwa.  Crippled  by  the  night-cold  that 
rose  from  the  river-bed,  and  then  wet  through  with  the  dew 
that  dripped  from  the  tall  grass,  we  traversed,  within  ear-shot 
of  the  frightened  villagers  who  hailed  one  another  from  the 
heights,  some  fields  of  grain  and  tobacco  that  had  been  lately 
reaped. 

"  Rumuma  is  a  favorite  resting-place  with  caravans,  on  ac- 
count of  the  comparative  abundance  of  its  supplies.  Here,  for 
the  first  time,  the  country  people  descended  in  crowds  from 
the  hills,  bringing  fowls,  hauling  along  small  but  beautifully- 
formed  goats,  lank  sheep,  and  fine  bullocks.  The  Wasagara 
of  Rumuma  are  short,  black,  beardless  men.  They  wear  their 
hair  combed  off  the  forehead,  and  twisted  into  a  fringe  of 
little  pig-tails,  which  extend  to  the  nape  of  the  neck.  Few 
boast  of  cloth,  the  general  body  contenting  themselves  with  a 
goat-skin  flap  somewhat  like  a  cobbler's  apron  tied  over  one 
shoulder,  as  we  sling  a  game-bag.  I  was  visited  by  their  Sul- 
tan Njasa,  a  small  grizzled  old  man,  with  eyes  reddened  by 
liquor,  a  wide  mouth,  a  very  thin  beard,  a  sooty  skin,  and 
long  straggling  hair. 

"  For  many  miles  beyond  Marenga  Mk'hali  water  is  rarely 
found.  Caravans,  therefore,  resort  to  what  is  called  a  'tiri- 
keza,'  or  afternoon  march.  The  tirikeza  is  one  of  the  severest 
inflictions  that  African  traveling  knows.  At  11  A.  M.  every 
thing  is  thrown  into  confusion,  although  two  or  three  hours 
must  elapse  before  departure.  Loads  are  bound  up,  kitchen 
batteries  are  washed  and  packed,  tents  are  thrown,  and  stools 


358  DOWN  THE  USAGARA  MOUNTAINS. 

are  carried  off  by  fidgeting  porters  and  excited  slaves.  Hav- 
ing drank  for  the  last  time,  and  filled  their  gourds  for  the 
night,  the  wayfarers  set  out  when  the  midday  ends.  The  sun 
is  far  more  severely  felt  after  the  sudden  change  from  shade, 
than  during  the  morning  inarches,  when  its  increase  of  heat  is 
slow  and  gradual.  They  trudge  under  the  fire-ball  in  the  fir- 
mament, over  ground  seething  with  glow  and  reek,  through 
an  air  which  seems  to  parch  the  eye-balls,  and  they  endure  the 
affliction  till  their  shadows  lengthen  out  upon  the  ground. 
The  tirikeza  is  almost  invariably  a  lengthy  stage,  as  the  por- 
ters wish  to  abridge  the  next  morning's  march,  which  leads 
to  water.  It  is  often  bright  moonlight  before  they  arrive  at 
the  ground. 

"  The  basin  of  Inenge  lies  at  the  foot  of  the  westernmost 
range  of  the  Usagara  Mountains.  The  climate,  like  that  of 
Runmma,  is  ever  in  extremes — during  the  day  a  furnace,  and 
at  night  a  refrigerator — the  position  is  a  funnel,  which  alter- 
nately collects  the  fiery  sunbeams  and  the  chilly  winds  that 
pour  down  from  the  misty  highlands.  The  halt  was  celebra- 
ted with  abundant  drumming  and  droning,  which  lasted  half 
the  night ;  it  served  to  cheer  the  spirits  of  the  men,  who  had 
talked  of  nothing  the  whole  day  but  the  danger  of  being  at- 
tacked by  the  Wahumba.  On  the  next  morning  arrived  a 
caravan  of  about  400  Wanyamwezi  porters,  marching  to  the 
coast,  under  the  command  of  Isa  bin  Hijji  and  three  other 
Arab  traders ;  an  exchange  of  civilities  took  place. 

"  On  the  14th  of  September  we  left  the  hill-top  and  broke 
ground  upon  the  counter  slope  of  the  Usagara  Mountains. 
Next  day  I  set  out  about  noon,  through  hot  sunshine  temper- 
ed by  the  cool  hill-breeze.  Emerging  from  the  grassy  hollow, 
the  path  skirted  a  well-wooded  hill  and  traversed  a  small  sa- 
vanna, overgrown  with  stunted  straw  and  hedged  in  by  a 
bushy  forest.  The  savanna  extended  to  the  edge  of  a  step, 
which,  falling  deep  and  steep,  suddenly  disclosed  to  view,  be- 
low and  far  beyond  the  shaggy  ribs  and  the  dark  ravines  and 
folds  of  the  foreground,  the  plateau  of  Ugogo  and  its  Eastern 
desert. 


FIRST  VIEW  OF  UGOGO.  359 

"The  spectacle  was  truly  impressive.  The  vault  above 
seemed  '  an.  ample  aether,'  raised  by  its  exceeding  transparency 
higher  than  it  is  wont  to  be.  Up  to  the  curved  rim  of  the 
western  horizon  lay,  burnished  by  the  rays  of  a  burning  sun, 
plains  rippled  like  a  yellow  sea  by  the  wavy  reek  of  the  danc- 
ing air,  broken  toward  the  north  by  a  few  detached  cones  ris- 
ing island-like  from  the  surface,  and  zebra'd  with  long  black 
lines,  where  bush  and  scrub  and  strip  of  thorn  jungle,  sup- 
planted upon  the  water-courses,  trending  in  mazy  net-work 
southward  to  the  Rwaha  River,  the  scorched  grass  and  with- 
ered cane-stubbles,  which  seemed  to  be  the  staple  growth  of 
the  land.  There  was  nothing  of  effeminate  or  luxuriant  beau- 
ty, nothing  of  the  flush  and  fullness  characterizing  tropical  na- 
ture, in  this  first  aspect  of  Ugogo.  It  appeared,  what  it  is, 
stern  and  wild — the  rough  nurse  of  rugged  men — and  perhaps 
the  anticipation  of  dangers  and  difficulties  ever  present  to  the 
minds  of  those  preparing  to  endure  the  waywardness  of  its 
children,  contributed  not  a  little  to  the  fascination  of  the 
scene. 

"  Ugogo  is  the  half-way  district  between  the  coast  and  Un- 
yanyembe,  and  it  is  usually  made  by  up-caravans  at  the  end 
of  the  second  month.  The  people  of  this  'no  man's  land '  are 
a  mongrel  race ;  the  Wasagara  claim  the  ground,  but  they  have 
admitted  as  settlers  many  "Wahehe  and  "Wagogo,  the  latter, 
for  the  most  part,  men  who  have  left  their  country  for  their 
country's  good.  The  plains  are  rich  in  grain.  The  nights 
are  fresh  and  dewless,  and  the  rays  of  a  tropical  sun  are  cool- 
ed by  the  gusts  which  sweep  down  the  sinuosities  of  the  Dun- 
gomaro. 

"  Before  settling  for  the  night  Kidogo  stood  up,  and  to  loud 
cries  of '  Maneno!  maneno!' — equivalent  to  our  parliamentary 
hear !  hear ! — delivered  himself  of  the  following  speech  : — 

"  'Listen,  O  ye  whites!  and  ye  children  of  Sayyidi  Majidi ! 
and  ye  sons  of  Ramji !  hearken  to  my  words,  O  ye  offspring 
of  the  night !  The  journey  entereth  Ugogo — Ugogo.  Beware, 
and  again  beware.  You  don't  know  the  Wagogo,  thoy  are 
8  and s !  Speak  not  to  those  Washenzi  pagans ;  enter 


360  AN  ARAB  CARAVAN. 

not  into  their  houses.  Have  no  dealings  with  them,  show  no 
cloth,  wire,  nor  beads.  Eat  not  with  them,  drink  not  with 
them,  and  make  not  love  to  their  women.  Kirangozi  of  the 
"Wanyamwezi,  restrain  your  sons !  Suffer  them  not  to  stray 
into  the  villages,  to  buy  salt  out  of  camp,  to  rob  provisions, 
to  debauch  with  beer,  or  to  sit  by  the  wells.' 

?  At  the  Ziwa  the  regular  system  of  kuhonga,  or  black-mail, 
BO  much  dreaded  by  travelers,  begins  in  force.  Up  to  this 
point  all  the  chiefs  are  contented  with  little  presents ;  but  in 
Ugogo  tribute  is  taken  by  force,  if  necessary.  None  can 
evade  payment ;  the  porters,  fearing  least  the  road  be  cut  off 
to  them  in  future,  would  refuse  to  travel  unless  each  chief  is 
satisfied ;  and  when  a  quarrel  arises  they  throw  down  their 
packs  and  run  away. 

"  On  the  30th  of  September,  the  last  day  of  our  detention 
at  the  Ziwa,  appeared  a  large  caravan  headed  by  Said  bin 
Mohammed  of  M  buamaji,  with  Khalf an  bin  Khamis,  and  sev- 
eral other  coast  Arabs.  They  proposed  that  for  safety  and 
economy  the  two  caravans  should  travel  together  under  a  sin- 
gle flag,  and  thus  combine  to  form  a  total  of  one  hundred  and 
ninety  men. 

"  These  coast  Arabs  traveled  in  comfort.  All  the  chiefs  of 
the  caravan  carried  with  them  wives  and  female  slaves,  negroid 
beauties,  tall,  bulky,  and  <  plenty  of  them,'  attired  in  tulip- 
hues,  cochineal  and  gamboge,  who  walked  the  whole  way, 
and  who,  when  we  passed  them,  displayed  an  exotic  modesty 
by  drawing  their  head-cloths  over  cheeks  which  we  were  little 
ambitious  to  profane.  They  had  a  multitude  of  fundi,  or 
managing  men,  and  male  slaves,  who  bore  their  personal  bag 
and  baggage,  scrip  and  scrippage,  drugs  and  comforts,  stores 
and  provisions,  and  who  were  always  early  at  the  ground  to 
pitch,  to  surround  with  a  « pai,'  or  dwarf  drain,  and  to  bush 
for  privacy,  with  green  boughs,  their  neat  and  light  ridge- 
tents  of  American  domestics.  Their  bedding  was  as  heavy 
as  ours,  and  even  their  poultry  traveled  in  wicker  cages.  This 
caravan  was  useful  to  us  in  dealing  with  the  Wagogo :  it 


BLACK-MAIL.  361 

always  managed,  however,  to  precede  us  on  the  march,  and 
to  monopolize  the  best  kraals. 

"  On  the  1st  of  October,  1857,  we  left  the  Ziwa,  and,  after 
passing  through  the  savannas  and  the  brown  jungles  of  the 
lower  levels,  wrhere  giraffe  again  appeared,  the  path  crested  a 
wave  of  ground  and  debouched  upon  the  table-land  of  Ugogo. 
The  aspect  was  peculiar  and  unprepossessing.  Behind  still 
towered  in  sight  the  delectable  mountains  of  Usagara,  mist- 
crowned  and  robed  in  the  lightest  azure,  with  streaks  of  deep 
plum-color,  fronting  the  hot  low  land  of  Marenga  Mk'hali, 
whose  tawny  face  was  wrinkled  with  lines  of  dark  jungle. 
On  the  north  was  a  tabular  range  of  rough  and  rugged  hill, 
above  which  rose  three  distant  cones  pointed  out  as  the 
haunts  of  the  robber  Wahumba ;  at  its  base  was  a  deep  depres- 
sion, a  tract  of  brown  brush  patched  with  yellow  grass,  inhab- 
ited only  by  the  elephant,  and  broken  by  small  outlying 
hillocks.  Southward,  scattered  eminences  of  tree-crowned 
rock  rose  a  few  yards  from  the  plain  which  extended  to  the 
front,  a  clearing  of  deep  red  or  white  soil,  decayed  vegetation 
based  upon  rocky  or  sandy  ground,  here  and  there  thinly 
veiled  with  brown  brush  and  golden  stubbles;  its  length, 
about  four  miles,  was  studded  with  square  villages,  and  with 
the  stately  but  grotesque  calabash. 

"  "We  were  received  with  the  drumming  and  the  ringing 
of  bells  attached  to  the  ivories,  with  the  yells  and  frantic 
shouts  of  two  caravans  halted  at  Kif  ukuru ;  one  was  that  of 
Said  Mohammed,  who  awaited  our  escort,  the  other  a  return 
'  safari,'  composed  of  about  one  thousand  "Wanyamwezi  por- 
ters, headed  by  four  slaves  of  Salim  bin  Rashid,  an  Arab 
merchant  settled  at  Unyanyembe.  The  country  people  also 
flocked  to  stare  at  the  phenomenon. 

"  From  the  day  of  our  entering  to  that  of  our  leaving  the 
country,  every  settlement  turned  out  its  swarm  of  gazers, 
men  and  women,  boys  and  girls,  some  of  whom  would  follow 
us  for  miles  with  explosions  of  Hi ! — i ! — i !  screams  of  laugh- 
ter and  cries  of  excitement,  at  a  long  high  trot — most 


362  TRANSIT  OF  THE  "  FIERY  FIELD." 

ungraceful   of   motion! — and  with  a   scantiness  of  toilette 

O 

•which  displayed  truely  unseemly  spectacles. 

"At  Kanyenye  I  was  delayed  four  days  to  settle  black- 
mail with,  Magomba,  a  powerful  "Wagogo  chief. 

"  Accompanied  by  a  mob  of  courtiers,  appeared  in  person 
the  magnifico.  lie  was  the  only  sultan  that  ever  entered  my 
tent  in  ITgogo — pride  and  a  propensity  for  strong  drink  pre- 
vented other  visits.  He  was  much  too  great  a  man  to  call 
upon  the  Arab  merchants,  but  in  our  case  curiosity  had  mas- 
tered state  considerations.  Magomba  was  a  black,  wrinkled 
elder,  driveling  and  decrepit,  with  a  half-bald  head,  from 
whose  back  and  sides  depended  a  few  straggling  corkscrews 
of  iron  gray.  He  demanded  and  received  articles  worth 
here  at  least  fifty  dollars,  and  exhausted  nearly  two  thirds  of 
a  porter's  load.  His  return  present  was  the  leanest  of  calves  ; 
when  it  was  driven  into  camp  with  much  parade,  his  son, 
who  had  been  looking  out  for  a  fit  opportunity,  put  in  a 
claim  for  three  cottons.  Magomba,  before  our  departure, 
exacted  from  Kidogo  an  oath  that  his  Wazungu  would  not 
smite  the  land  with  drought  or  with  fatal  disease,  declaring 
that  all  we  had  was  in  his  hands. 

"On  the  20th  of  October  we  began  the  transit  of  the 
*  Fiery  Field  '  whose  long  broad  line  of  brown  jungle,  painted 
blue  by  the  intervening  air,  had,  since  leaving  K'hok'ho, 
formed  our  western  horizon.  The  waste  here  appeared  in 
its  most  horrid  phase.  We  halted  through  the  heat  of  the 
day  at  some  water-pits  in  a  broken  course ;  and  resuming  our 
tedious  march  early  in  the  afternoon,  we  arrived  about  sun- 
set at  the  bed  of  a  shallow  nullah. 

"  The  22d  of  October,  saw  us  at  Jiwe  la  Mkoa.  The  jun- 
gle seemed  interminable.  The  shadows  of  the  hills  length- 
ened out  upon  the  plains,  the  sun  sank  in  the  glory  of  purple, 
crimson,  and  gold,  and  the  crescent  moon  rained  a  flood  of 
silvery  light  upon  the  topmost  twig-work  of  the  trees;  we 
passed  a  dwarf  clearing,  where  lodging  and  perhaps  provis- 
ions were  to  be  obtained,  and  we  sped  by  water  near  the 
road  where  the  frogs  were  chanting  their  vesper  hymn ;  still 


ARRIVAL  AT  TTNYANYEMBE.  365 

far,  far  ahead  we  heard  the  horns  and  the  faint  march-cries 
of  the  porters.  . 

"  On  the  7th  of  November,  1857 — the  one  hundred  and 
'  thirty-fourth  day  from  the  date  of  our  leaving  the  coast — 
after  marching  at  least  six  hundred  miles,  we  prepared  to 
enter  Kazeh,  the  principal  bandari  of  Eastern  Unyamwezi,' 
and  the  capital  village  of  the  Omani  merchants.  "We  left 
Hanga  at  dawn.  The  Baloch  were  clothed  in  that  one  fine 
suit  without  which  the  Eastern  man  rarely  travels ;  after  a 
few  displays  the  dress  will  be  repacked,  and  finally  disposed 
of  in  barter  for  slaves.  About  8  A.  M.  we  halted  for  strag- 
glers at  a  little  village,  and  when  the  line  of  porters,  becom- 
ing compact,  began  to  wriggle,  snake-like,  its  long  length 
over  the  plain,  writh  floating  flags,  booming  horns,  muskets 
ringing  like  saluting-mortars,  and  an  uproar  of  voice  which 
nearly  drowned  the  other  noises,  we  made  a  truly  splendid 
and  majestic  first  appearance. 

"  The  road  was  lined  with  people  who  attempted  to  vie  with 
us  in  volume  and  variety  of  sound;  all  had  donned  their 
best  attire,  and  with  such  a  luxury  my  eyes  had  been  long 
unfamiliar.  Advancing,  I  saw  several  Arabs  standing  by 
the  wayside ;  they  gave  the  Moslem  salutation,  and  courte- 
ously accompanied  me  for  some  distance.  Among  them, 
were  the  principal  merchants,  Snay  bin  Amir,  Said  bin  Majid, 
a  young  and  handsome  Omani  of  noble  tribe,  and  Said  bin 
Ali  el  Hinawi,  whose  short,  spare  but  well-knit  frame,  pale 
face,  small  features,  snowy  beard,  and  bald  head  surmounted 
by  a  red  fez,  made  him  the  type  of  an  Arab  old  man. 

"  The  Arabs  live   comfortably,   and   even  splendidly,,  at 
Unyanyembe.     The  houses,  though  single-storied,  are-  large,  , 
substantial,  and  capable  of  defense.     Their  gardens  are  exten- 
sive and  well  planted ;  they  receive  regular  supplies  of  mer- 
chandise,  comforts,  and  luxuries  from  the  coast ;-  they  are 
surrounded  by  troops  of  concubines  and  slaves^  whom  they 
train  to  divers  crafts  and  callings;  rich  men  have  riding-asses 
from  Zanzibar,  and  even  the  poorest  keep  flocks  and  herds," 
19 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

BUKTON  AND  SPEKE'S  EXPEDITION. 

(CONTINUED.) 

Land  of  the  Moon,  which  is  the  garden  of  Central 
Inter-tropical  Africa,  presents  an  aspect  of  peaceful  rural 
beauty  which  soothes  the  eye  like  a  medicine  after  the  red 
^lare  of  barren  Ugogo,  and  the  dark  monotonous  verdure  of 
the  western  provinces.  The  inhabitants  are  comparatively 
•numerous  in  the  villages,  which  rise  at  short  intervals  above 
their  impervious  walls  of  the  lustrous  green  milk-bush,  with 
its  eoral-shaped  arms,  variegating  the  well-hoed  plains ;  while 
in  the  pasture-lands  frequent  herds  of  many-colored  cattle, 
plump,  round-barreled,  and  high-humped,  like  the  Indian 
breeds,  and  mingled  flocks  of  goats  and  sheep  dispersed  over 
the  landscape,  suggest  ideas  of  barbarous  comfort  and  plenty. 
There  are  few  scenes  more  soft  and  soothing  than  a  view  of 
Unyamwezi  in  the  balmy  evenings  of  spring. 

"At  eventide,  when  the  labors  of  the  day  were  past  and  done, 
the  villagers  came  home  in  a  body,  laden  with  their  imple- 
ments of  cultivation,  and  singing  a  kind  of  "dulce  donum" 
in  a  simple  and  pleasing  recitative.  The  sunset  hour  in  the 
"  Land  of  the  Moon,"  is  replete  with  enjoyments.  The  sweet 
and  balmy  breeze  floats  in  waves  like  the  draught  of  a  fan ; 
the  sky  is  softly  and  serenely  blue ;  the  fleecy  clouds,  station- 
ary in  the  upper  firmament,  are  robed  in  purple  and  gold,  and 
the  beautiful  blush  crimsoning  the  west  is  reflected  by  all  the 
features  of  earth.  At  this  time  all  is  life.  The  vulture  soars 
with  eilent  flight  high  in  the  blue  expanse ;  the  small  birds 

366 


THE  WANYAMWEZI  PORTERS.  369 

preen  themselves  for  the  night,  and  sing  their  evening  hymns ; 
the  antelopes  prepare  to  couch  in  the  bush ;  the  cattle  and 
flocks  frisk  and  gambol  while  driven  from  their  pastures ;  and 
the  people  busy  themselves  with  the  simple  pleasures  that  end 
the  day." 

The  travelers  were  detained  at  Unyanyembe  for  five  weeks, 
and  though  comfortably  housed  the  delay  was  a  long  trial  of 
patience.  Their  gang  of  Wanyamwezi  porters  took  their 
pay  out  of  their  loads  as  soon  as  they  reached  Unyanyembe, 
and  started  for  their  Unyamwezi  homes  without  a  word  of 
farewell  to  their  late  employers,  and  the  rest  of  the  party 
considered  the  exploration  at  an  end. 

These  Wanyaniwezi  porters  are  cordially  welcomed  home 
after  their  long  walk  to  and  from  the  coast.  As  soon  as  a 
wife  hears  that  her  husband  is  about  to  arrive  home,  she  puts 
on  all  Iier  ornaments,  decorates  herself  with  a  feathered  cap, 
gathers  her  friends  round  her,  and  proceeds  to  the  hut  of  the 
chiefs  principal  wife,  before  whose  door  they  all  dance  and 
sing.  Dancing  and  singing  are  with  this  tribe,  as  well  as 
many  others,  the  chief  amusements. 

On  the  14th  of  November,  the  rainy  season  set  in,  the 
place  became  more  unhealthy,  Burton,  Speke,  Bombay  and 
many  of  the  other  Zanzibar  men  were  taken  sick,  porters 
could  not  be  obtained,  Said  bin  Salim  began  to  "  put  on  airs," 
and  it  was  not  till  the  14th  of  December,  that  Burton  started 
from  Unyanyembe,  and  even  then  Speke  remained  at  Kazeh 
to  secure  supplies. 

Mr.  Burton  halted  two  days  at  Yambo,  and  soon  after- 
ward reached  Irora,  a  village  in  Mfuto,  belonging  to  an  Arab, 
who  was  naked  to  the  waist  and  armed  with  bow  and  arrows. 
He  received  the  travelers  surlily,  and  when  they  objected  to 
a  wretched  cow-shed  outside  his  palisade,  he  suddenly  waxed 
furious,  raved  like  a  madman,  shook  his  silly  bow,  and 
declared  himself  as  good  a  "sultan"  as  any  other.  He 
became  pacified  on  perceiving  that  his  wrath  excited  nothing 
but  the  ridicule  of  the  Baloch,  found  a  better  lodging,  sent  a 


3  TO  WESTERN  UNYAMWEZI. 

bowl  of  fresh  milk  wherein  to  drown  differences,  and  behaved 
more  like  an  Arab  shaykh  than  an  African  headman. 

On  the  30th  of  December,  the  travelers  reached  Msene,  the 
chief  bandari  of  Western  Unyamwezi ;  like  Unyanyembe  it 
is  not  a  town  but  a  mass  of  detached  settlements.  Its  Arab 
inhabitants  are  mostly  natives  of  the  coast,  with  a  natural 
antipathy  to  the  pure  Oinani.  Here  the  travelers  were 
delayed  twelve  days.  Only  two  or  three  of  the  Arabs  paid 
them  any  civilities.  The  native  sultan  visited  them  several 
times.  His  first  greeting  was : — "  White  man,  what  pretty 
thing  hast  thou  brought  up  from  the  shore  to  me  ?  " 

"  As  might  be  expected  from  the  constitution  of  its  society, 
Msene  is  a  place  of  gross  debauchery  most  grateful  to  the 
African  mind.  All,  from  sultan  to  slave,  are  intoxicated 
whenever  the  material  is  forth-coming.  The  drum  is  never 
silent,  and  the  dance  fills  up  the  spare  intervals  of  carouse 
till  exhausted  nature  can  bear  no  more.  The  consequence  is, 
that  caravans  invariably  lose  numbers  by  desertion  when  pass- 
ing through  Msene.  Even  household  slaves,  born  and  bred  upon 
the  coast,  cannot  tear  themselves  from  its  Circean  charms. 
The  temptations  of  the  town  rendered  it  almost  impossi- 
ble to  keep  a  servant  or  slave  within  doors ;  the  sons  of 
Ramji  vigorously  engaged  themselves  in  trading,  and  Muinyi 
Wazira  in  a  debauch  which  ended  in  a  dismissal." 

On  leaving  Msene,  the  sons  of  Ramji  lingered  behind, 
contrary  to  orders,  and  on  appearing  three  days  afterwards, 
were  dismissed  and  sent  back  to  Kazeh.  At  Wanyika  the 
travelers  were  black-mailed  by  the  Sultan  Uvinzi,  the  lord 
of  the  Malagarazi  River ;  afterward  on  arriving  at  the  f erry, 
they  were  told  that  the  sultan  had  sold  his  permission  to 
cross,  and  were  required  to  pay  additional  toll. 

"  The  route  before  us  lay  through  a  howling  wilderness, 
once  popular  and  fertile,  but  now  laid  waste  by  the  fierce 
Watuta.  Snay  bin  Amir  had  warned  me  that  it  would  be  our 
greatest  trial  of  patience. 

"  We  followed  the  southern  line  which  crosses  the  Rusugi 
River  at  the  branch  islet.  Fords  are  always  picturesque.  The 


FORDING  THE  RUSL'GL  371 

men  seemed  to  enjoy  the  washing ;  their  numbers  protected 
them  from  the  crocodiles,  which  fled  from  their  shouting  and 
splashing ;  and  they  even  ventured  into  deep  water,  where 
swimming  was  necessary.  We  crossed,  as  usual,  on  a  '  uni- 
corn '  of  negroids,  the  upper  part  of  the  body  supported  by 
two  men,  and  the  feet  resting  upon  the  shoulders  of  a  third — 
a  posture  somewhat  similar  to  that  affected  by  gentlemen  who 
find  themselves  unable  to  pull  off  their  own  boots.  Then  re- 
mounting, we  ascended  the  grassy  rise  on  the  right  of  the 
stream,  climbed  up  a  rocky  and  bushy  ridge,  and  found  our- 
selves ensconced  in  a  ragged  and  comfortless  kraal  upon 
the  western  slopes,  within  sight  of  some  deserted  salt-pans 
below. 

"  On  the  13th  of  February  we  resumed  our  travel  through 
screens  of  lofty  grass,  which  thinned  out  into  a  straggling 
forest.  After  about  an  hour's  march  we  entered  a  small  sa- 
vanna and  presently  ascended  a  steep  hill,  and  halted  for  a 
few  moments  upon  the  summit. 

"  '  What  is  that  streak  of  light  which  lies  below  ?'  I  inquir- 
ed of  Seedy  Bombay.  '  I  am  of  opinion,'  quoth  Bombay, 
*  that  that  is  the  water.'  1  gazed  in  dismay  ;  the  remains  of 
my  blindness,  the  veil  of  trees,  and  a  broad  ray  of  sunshine 
illuminating  but  one  reach  of  the  lake,  had  shrunk  its  fair 
proportions.  Somewhat  prematurely  I  began  to  lament  my 
folly  in  having  risked  life  and  lost  health  for  so  poor  a  prize. 
Advancing,  however,  a  few  yards,  the  whole  scene  suddenly 
burst  upon  my  view,  filling  me  with  admiration,  wonder,  and 
delight. 

"  Nothing,  in  sooth,  could  be  more  picturesque  than  this 
first  view  of  the  Tanganyika  Lake,  as  it  lay  in  the  lap  of  the 
mountains,  basking  in  the  gorgeous  tropical  sunshine.  Below 
and  beyond  a  short  foreground  of  rugged  and  precipitous 
hill-fold,  down  which  the  footpath  zigzags  painfully,  a  narrow 
strip  of  emerald  green,  never  sere  and  marvelously  fertile, 
shelves  toward  a  ribbon  of  glistening  yellow  sand,  here  bor- 
dered by  sedgy  rushes,  there  cleanly  and  clearly  cut  by  the 
breaking  wavelets.  Farther  in  front  stretch  the  waters,  an 


372  FIRST  VIEW  OF  LAKE  TANGANYIKA. 

expanse  of  the  lightest  and  softest  blue,  in  breadth  A-arying 
from  thirty  to  thirty-five  miles,  and  sprinkled  by  the  crisp 
east  wind  with  tiny  crescents  of  snowy  foam.  The  background 
in  front  is  a  high  and  broken  wall  of  steel-colored  mountain, 
here  flecked  and  capped  with  pearly  mist,  there  standing 
sharply  penciled  against  the  azure  air ;  its  yawning  chasm, 
marked  by  a  deeper  plum-color,  fall  toward  dwarf  hills  of 
mound-like  proportions,  which  apparently  dip  their  feet  in 
the  wave.  To  the  south,  and  opposite  the  long  low  point  be- 
hind which  the  Malagarazi  Kiver  discharges  the  red  loam 
suspended  in  its  violent  stream,  lie  the  bluflf  headlands  and 
capes  of  Uguhha,  and  as  the  eye  dilates,  it  falls  upon  a  clus- 
ter of  outlying  islets  speckling  a  sea-horizon.  Tillages,  cul- 
tivated lands,  the  frequent  canoes  of  the  fishermen  on  the 
waters,  and  on  a  nearer  approach  the  murmurs  of  the  waves 
breaking  upon  the  shore,  give  a  something  of  variety,  of 
movement,  of  life  to  the  landscape. 

"  Truly  it  was  a  revel  for  soul  and  sight.  Forgetting  toils, 
dangers,  and  the  doubtfulness  of  return,  I  felt  willing  to  en- 
dure double  what  I  had  endured ;  and  all  the  party  seemed 
to  join  with  me  in  joy.  My  purblind  companion  found  no- 
thing to  grumble  at  except  the  '  mist  and  glare  before  his 
eyes.'  Said  bin  Salim  looked  exulting — he  had  procured  for 
me  this  pleasure — the  monocolous  jemadar  grinned  his  con- 
gratulations and  even  the  surly  Baloch  made  civil  salams. 

The  travelers  struck  the  lake  a  short  distance  below  Ujiji ; 
there  a  boat  was  obtained,  and  on  the  14th  of  February,  they 
rowed  along  the  coast  to  Ujiji.  "  Presently  mammoth  and 
behemoth  shrank  timidly  from  exposure,  and  a  few  hollowed 
logs,  the  monoxyles  of  the  fishermen,  the  wood-cutters,  and 
the  market-people,  either  cut  the  water  singly,  or  stood  in 
crowds  drawn  up  on  the  patches  of  yellow  sand.  The  craft 
was  poled  through  a  hole  in  a  thick  welting  of  coarse  reedy 
grass  and  flaggy  aquatic  plants  to  a  level  landing-place  of  flat 
shingle,  where  the  water  shoaled  off  rapidly.  Such  was  the 
ghaut  or  disembarkation  quay  of  the  great  IJjiji. 

"  Around  the  ghaut  a  few  scattered  huts,  in  the  humblest 


STORK  HOUSES.  MEN  THRESHING.  GATHERING  GRAIN 

WOMEN  POUNDING  GRAIN.  V.'OMEN  GRINDING    GRAIN. 


A  WEEZEE  TKMUK. 


ARRIVAL  AT  UJIJI.  375 

bee-hive  shape,  represented  the  port-town.  Advancing 
through  a  din  of  shouts  and  screams,  tom-toms,  and  trumpets, 
which  defies  description,  and  mobbed  by  a  swarm  of  black 
beings,  whose '  eyes  seemed  about  to  start  from  their  heads 
with  surprise,  I  passed  a  relic  of  Arab  civilization,  the  '  bazar,' 
where,  weather  permitting,  a  mass  of  standing  and  squatting 
negroes  buy  and  sell,  barter  and  exchange,  offer  and  chaffer 
with  a  hubbub  heard  for  miles,  and  where  a  spear  or  dagger 
thrust  brings  on,  by  no  means  unfrequently,  a  skirmishing 
faction-fight. 

"  I  was  led  to  a  ruinous  tembe,  built  by  an  Arab  merchant, 
Hamid  bin  Salim,  who  had  allowed  it  to  be  tenanted  by  ticks 
and  slaves.  Situated,  however,  half  a  mile  from,  and  backed 
by  the  little  village  of  Kawele,  whose  mushroom-huts  barely 
protruded  their  summits  above  the  dense  vegetation,  and 
placed  at  a  similar  distance  from  the  water  in  front,  it  had 
the  double  advantage  of  proximity  to  provisions,  and  of  a 
view  which  at  first  was  highly  enjoyable.  The  Tanganyika 
is  ever  seen  to  advantage  from  its  shores ;  upon  its  surface  the 
sight  wearies  with  the  unvarying  tintage — all  shining  greens 
and  hazy  blues — while  continuous  parallels  of  lofty  hills,  like 
the  sides  of  a  huge  trough,  close  the  prospect  and  suggest 
the  idea  of  confinement. 

"  On  the  second  day  after  my  arrival  I  was  called  upon  by 
"Kannena,"  the  headman  of  Kawele,  under  Rusimba,  the 
principal  chief  of  Ujiji.  On  this  occasion  he  behaved  with 
remarkable  civility,  and  he  introduced,  as  the  envoys  commis- 
sioned by  the  great  Rusimba  to  receive  his  black-mail,  two 
gentlerhen  a  quarter  clad  in  the  greasiest  and  scantiest  bark- 
aprons,  and  armed  with  dwarfish  battle-axes." 

The  announcement  that  the  new  comers  were  not  mer- 
chants or  traders  was  received  with  distrust  and  ill-will  by  the 
native  Ujijians.  "These  are  the  men  who  live  by  doing  no- 
thing," they  said,  and  lost  no  time  in  requesting  them  to  leave 
the  territory.  To  this  they  objected,  offering,  however,  com- 
pensation for  loss  of  perquisites  usually  received  from  trading 


376  VISIT  FROM  THE  HEADMAN. 

caravans.  Claims  were  at  once  made  and  paid.  Insults  and 
injuries  followed. 

"  On  one  occasion,  a  young  person  went  to  the  huts  of  the 
Baloch,  and,  snatching  up  a  fine  cloth,  which  she  clasped  to 
her  bosom,  defied  them  to  recover  it  by  force,  and  departed, 
declaring  that  it  was  a  fine  for  bringing  'whites'  into  the 
country.  At  first  our  heroes  spoke  of  much  slaughter  likely 
to  arise  from  such  procedure,  and  with  theatrical  gesture  made 
'  rapiere  au  vent  /'  presently  second  thoughts  suggested  how 
beautiful  is  peace,  and  thirdly,  they  begged  so  hard  that  I 
was  compelled  to  ransom  for  them  the  article  purloined.  I 
had  unwittingly  incurred  the  animosity  of  Kannena.  On  the 
day  after  his  appearance  in.  rich  clothing,  he  had  entered  un- 
announced with  bare  head,  a  spear  or  two  in  hand,  and  a  bun- 
dle of  wild-cats'  skins  by  way  of  placket ;  not  being  recog- 
nized, he  was  turned  out,  and  the  ejectment  mortally  offended 
his  dignity." 

The  travelers,  too,  and  many  of  their  men,  were  taken  sick 
at  Ujiji ;  all  energy  seemed  to  have  abandoned  them.  Bur- 
ton lay  for  two  weeks,  "  too  blind  to  read  or  write  except 
with  long  intervals,  too  weak  to  ride,  and  too  ill  to  converse." 
Speke  suffered  from  a  painful  opthalmia,  and  otherwise.  Be- 
ing determined  to  explore  the  northern  part  of  the  lake,  they 
finally  shook  off  the  lethargy,  and  Speke  started  on  the  2d  of 
March,  in  a  small  boat  with  four  of  his  men,  to  cross  the  lake 
for  the  purpose  of  hiring  from  an  Arab  the  only  dhow,  or 
sailing  craft,  then  in  existence  on  the  lake,  in  which  they 
might  start  on  their  explorations  northward.  Mr.  Burton  re- 
mained behind,  and  thus  speaks  of  his  residence  there: — 

"  During  my  twenty-seven  days  of  solitude  the  time  sped 
quickly  ;  it  was  chiefly  spent  in  eating  and  drinking,  smoking 
and  dozing  Awaking  at  2  or  3  A.  M.,  I  lay  anxiously  ex- 
pecting the  gray  light  creeping  through  the  door-chinks  and 
making  darkness  visible  ;  the  glad  tidings  of  its  approach  were 
announced  by  the  cawing  of  the  crows  and  the  crowing  of 
the  village  cocks.  "When  the  golden  rays  began  to  stream 
over  the  red  earth,  the  torpid  Valentine  was  called  up ;  he 


LIFE  AT  UJIJI. 

brought  with  him  a  mess  of  suji,  or  rice-flour  boiled  in  water 
with  a  little  cold  milk  as  a  relish.  Then  entered  Muhabanya, 
armed  with  a  leafy  branch,  to  sweep  the  floor  and  to  slay  the 
huge  wasps  that  riddled  the  walls  of  the  tenement.  This 
done  he  lit  the  fire.  Ensued  visits  of  ceremony  from  Said  bin 
Salim  and  the  jemadar,  who  sat,  stared,  and,  somewhat  disap- 
pointed at  seeing  no  fresh  symptoms  of  approaching  dissolu- 
tion, told  me  so  with  their  faces,  and  went  away. 

"  From  T  A.  M.  till  9  A.  M.,  the  breakfast  hour,  Valentine 
was  applied  to  tailoring,  gun-cleaning,  and  similar  light  work, 
over  which  he  groaned  and  grumbled,  while  I  settled  down 
to  diaries  and  vocabularies,  a  process  interrupted  by  sundry 
pipes.  Breakfast  was  again  a  mess  of  suji  and  milk — such 
civilized  articles  as  tea,  coffee,  and  sugar  had  been  unknown 
to  me  for  months.  Again  the  servants  resumed  their  labor, 
and  they  worked,  with  the  interval  of  two  hours  for  sleep  at 
noon,  till  4  P.  M.  During  this  time  the  owner  lay  like  a  log 
upon  his  cot,  smoking  almost  uninterruptedly,  dreaming  of 
things  past,  and  visioning  things  present,  and  sometimes  in- 
dulging himself  in  a  few  lines  of  reading  and  writing.  Din- 
ner was  an  alternation  of  fish  and  fowl,  game  and  butcher's 
meat  being  rarely  procurable  at  Ujiji. 

"  As  evening  approached  I  made  an  attempt  to  sit  under 
the  broad  eaves  of  the  tembe,  and  to  enjoy  the  delicious  spec- 
tacle of  this  virgin  Nature  and  the  reveries  to  which  it  gave 
birth. 

"  A  pleasing  land  of  drowsihed  it  was, 

Of  dreams  that  wave  before  the  half-shut  eye, 

And  of  gay  castles  in  the  clouds  that  pass, 
Forever  flushing  round  a  summer  sky." 

"  It  reminded  me  of  the  loveliest  glimpses  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean ;  there  were  the  same  '  laughing  tides,'  pellucid  sheets 
of  dark  blue  water  borrowing  their  tints  from  the  vinous 
shores  beyond  ;  the  same  purple  light  of  youth  upon  the  cheek 
of  the  earlier  evening,  the  same  bright  sunsets,  with  their  ra- 
diant vistas  of  crimson  and  gold  opening  like  the  portals  of  a 
world  beyond  the  skies ;  the  same  short-lived  grace  and  love- 
liness of  the  twilight ;  and,  as  night  closed  over  the  earth,  the 


378  L^E  AT 

same  cool  flood  of  transparent  moonbeam  pouring  on  the 
tufty  heights  and  bathing  their  sides  with  the  whiteness  of 
virgin  snow. 

"At  7  P.  M.,  as  the  last  flush  faded  from  the  Occident,  the 
lamp— a  wick  in  a  broken  pot  of  palm-oil—was  brought  in ; 
Said  bin  Salim  appeared  to  give  the^news  of  the  day— how  A. 
had  abused  B.,  and  how  C.  had  nearly  been  beaten  by  D.,  and 
a  brief  conversation  led  to  the  hour  of  sleep.  A  dreary,  dis- 
mal day,  you  will  exclaim,  gentle  reader ;  a  day  that 

"  Lasts  out  a  night  in  Russia, 
Where  days  are  longest  there." 

Yet  it  had  its  enjoyments.  There  were  no  post-offices,  and 
this  African  Eden  had  other  advantages  which,  probably,  I 
might  vainly  attempt  to  describe. 

"  On  the  29th  of  March,  the  rattling  of  matchlocks  announc- 
ed my  companion's  return.  The  masika  had  done  its  worst  upon 
him.  I  never  saw  a  man  so  thoroughly  moist  and  mildewed ; 
he  justified  even  the  French  phrase  l  wet  to  the  bone.'  His 
paraphernalia  were  in  a  similar  state  ;  his  guns  were  grained 
with  rust,  and  his  fire-proof  powder-magazine  had  admitted 
the  monsoon-rain. 

Captain  Speke  having  returned  without  the  dhow,  Kannena, 
the  headman,  who  was  preparing  for  a  cruise  on  the  lake, 
was  hired  to  convey  the  travelers  and  seven  of  their  men  on 
a  voyage  up  the  lake.  The  expedition  started  from  Ujiji  on 
the  12th  of  April  1858.  There  were  two  boats,  paddled  by 
fifty-five  Wajiji.  Kannena  also  accompanied  them.  • 

"  The  Wajiji,  and  indeed  all  these  races,  never  work  silently 
or  regularly.  The  paddling  is  accompanied  by  a  long  monot- 
onous melancholy  howl,  answered  by  the  yells  and  shouts  of 
the  chorus,  and  broken  occasionally  by  a  shrill  scream  of 
delight  from  the  boys  which  seems  violently  to  excite  the 
adults.  The  bray  and  clang  of  the  horns,  shaums,  and  tom- 
toms, blown  and  banged  incessantly  by  one  or  more  men  in 
the  bow  of  each  canoe,  made  worse  by  brazen-lunged  imita- 
tions of  these  instruments  in  the  squeaking  trebles  of  the 
younger  paddlers,  lasts  throughout  the  livelong  day,  except 


CRUISE  ON  THE  LAKE.  379 

•when  terror  induces  a  general  silence  These  "  Wana  Maji" 
— sons  of  water — work  in  "  spirts,"  applying  lustily  to  the 
task  till  the  perspiration  pours  down  their  sooty  persons. 
Despite  my  remonstrances,  they  insisted  upon  splashing  the 
water  in  shovelfuls  over  the  canoe.  They  make  terribly  long 
faces,  however,  they  tremble  like  dogs  in  a  storm  of  sleet,  and 
they  are  ready  to  whimper  when  compelled  by  sickness  or 
accident  to  sit  with  me  under  the  endless  cold  wave-bath  in 
the  hold. 

"  After  a  few  minutes  of  exertion,  fatigued  and  worn,  they 
stop  to  quarrel,  or  they  progress  languidly  till  recruited  for 
another  effort.  When  two  boats  are  together  they  race 
continually  till  a  bump — the  signal  for  a  general  grin — and 
the  difficulty  of  using  the  entangled  paddles  affords  an  excuse 
for  a  little  loitering,  and  for  the  loud  chatter  and  violent 
abuse,  without  which  apparently  this  people  can  not  hold  con- 
verse. At  times  they  halt  to  eat,  drink,  and  smoke :  the 
bhang-pipe  is  produced  after  every  hour,  and  the  paddles  are 
taken  in  while  they  indulge  in  the  usual  screaming  convulsive 
whooping-cough.  They  halt  for  their  owrn  purposes  but  not 
for  ours." 

On  the  26th  of  April  the  two  boats  arrived  at  ITvira,  the 
most  northern  station  to  which  merchants  had  then  been 
admitted. 

"  Great  rejoicings  ushered  in  the  end  of  our  outward-bound 
voyage.  Crowds  gathered  on  the  shore  to  gaze  at  the  new 
merchants  arriving  at  Uvira,  with  the  usual  concert,  vocal  and 
instrumental,  screams,  shouts,  and  songs,  shaums,  horns,  and 
tom-toms.  The  captains  of  the  two  canoes  performed  with 
the  most  solemn  gravity  a  bear-like  dance  upon  the  mat-cov- 
ered benches  which  form  the  '  quarter-decks,'  extending  their 
arms,  pirouetting  upon  both  heels,  and  springing  up  and 
squatting  down  till  their  hams  touched  the  mats.  The  crews, 
with  a  general  grin  which  showed  all  their  ivories,  rattled 
their  paddles  against  the  sides  of  their  canoes  in  token  of 
greeting,  a  custom  derived  probably  from  the  ceremonious 


380  ARRIVAL  AT  UVIRA. 

address  of  the  lakists,  which  is  performed  by  rapping  their 
elbows  against  their  ribs." 

The  travelers  pitched  their  tents  on  the  sands,  and  made 
preparation  for  exploring  the  head  of  the  lake  which  extends 
a  few  miles  north  of  Uvira.  They  had  been  told  at  Ujiji,  by 
an  Arab,  that  a  river  flowed  out  of  the  lake,  and  were  greatly 
disappointed  when  the  three  fine  sons  of  the  Sultan  Maruta, 
visited  them,  and  declared  unanimously  that  they  had  visited 
the  river,  and  that  the  Eusizi  entered  into  and  did  not  flow 
out  of  Tanganyika. 

Burton  and  Speke  remained  nine  days  at  Uvira,  and  found 
it  impossible  to  proceed  further  north.  "  Majid  and  Bekkari, 
the  Arab  agents  of  Said  bin  Majid,  replied  to  the  offer  of  an 
exorbitant  sum,  that  they  would  not  undertake  the  task  for 
ten  times  that  amount.  The  sons  of  Maruta  had  volunteered 
their  escort ;  when  I  wanted  to  close  with  them,  they  drew 
off.  Kannena,  when  summoned  to  perform  his  promise,  and 
reminded  of  the  hire  that  he  had  received,  jumped  up  and 
ran  out  of  the  tent ;  afterward  at  Ujiji  he  declared  that  he 
had  been  willing  to  go,  but  that  his  crews  wrere  unanimous  in 
declining  to  risk  their  lives,  which  was  perhaps  true.  Toward 
the  end  of  the  halt  I  suffered  so  severely  from  ulceration  of 
the  tongue  that  articulation  was  nearly  impossible,  and  this 
was  a  complete  stopper  to  progress.  It  is  a  characteristic  of 
African  travel  that  the  explorer  may  be  arrested  at  the  very 
bourne  of  his  journey,  on  the  very  threshold  of  success,  by  a 
single  stage,  as  effectually  as  if  all  the  waves  of  the  Atlantic 
or  the  sands  of  Arabia  lay  between." 

The  party  started  from  Uvira  on  the  6th  of  May,  and  pro- 
ceeded without  adventure.  On  the  10th  of  May,  at  sunset, 
they  left  Mzimu,  an  island,  and  two  hours  after  sunset  struck 
out  boldly  towards  the  eastern  shore  of  Tanganyika.  Before 
reaching  the  mid-channel  they  were  overtaken  by  a  terrific 
storm  of  wind,  rain,  thunder  and  lightning ;  the  crew,  though 
blinded  by  the  shower,  and  frightened  by  the  gusts,  worked 
gallantly,  some  of  them  now  and  then  exclaiming,  "  Oh,  my 
wife !"  Bombay  spent  the  whole  wild  night  in  saying  remi- 


A  FATAL  AFFRAY.  381 

niscences  of  prayers.  At  seven  A.  M.,  they  landed  safely  on 
the  coast  of  Urundi.  Here  the  travelers  pitched  their  tents 
and  retired  to  sleep. 

"  I  was  suddenly  aroused  by  Mabruki,  who,  rushing  into 
the  tent,  thrust  my  sword  into  my  hands,  and  exclaimed  that 
the  crews  were  scrambling  into  their  boats.  I  went  out  and 
found  everything  in  dir6  confusion.  The  sailors,  hurrying 
here  and  there,  were  embarking  their  mats  and  cooking-pots, 
some  were  in  violent  parley  with  Kannena,  while  a  little  knot 
was  carrying  a  man,  mortally  wounded,  down  to  the  waters 
of  the  lake.  I  saw  at  once  that  the  affair  was  dangerous.  On 
these  occasions  the  Wajiji,  whose  first  impulse  is  ever  flight, 
rush  for  safety  to  their  boats,  and  push  off,  little  heeding 
whom  or  what  they  leave  behind.  We  therefore  hurried  in 
without  delay. 

"  When  both  crews  had  embarked,  and  no  enemy  appeared, 
Kannena  persuaded  them  to  reland,  and,  proving  to  them 
their  superior  force,  induced  them  to  demand,  at  the  arrow's 
point,  satisfaction  of  Kanoni,  the  chief,  for  the  outrage  com- 
mitted by  his  subjects.  During  our  sleep  a  drunken  man 
had  rushed  from  the  crowd  of  Warundi,  and,  knobstick  in 
hand,  had  commenced  dealing  blows  in  all  directions.  A 
general  melee  ensued.  Bombay,  when  struck,  called  to  the 
crews  to  arm.  The  Goanese,  Valentine,  being  fear-crazed, 
seized  my  pistol  and  probably  fired  it  into  the  crowd ;  at  all 
events,  the  cone  struck  one  of  our  own  men  below  the  right 
pap,  and  came  out  two  inches  to  the  right  of  the  backbone. 
Fortunately  foi  us  he  was  a  slave,  otherwise  the  situation 
would  have  been  desperate.  As  it  was,  the  crowd  became 
violently  excited  ;  one  man  drew  his  dagger  upon  Valentine, 
and  with  difficulty  I  dissuaded  Kannena  from  killing  him." 

Kannena  succeeded  in  obtaining  from  the  sultan  of  the  coun- 
try, a  small  girl  and  a  large  sheep  as  a  recompense  for  the  trou- 
ble occasioned  by  his  drunken  subject.  The  wounded  man 
died  after  reaching  Ujiji,  where  the  boats  arrived  on  the  13th 
of  May. 

The  travelers  joined  a  homeward  bound  caravan,  and  left 


392  RETURN  TO  UN'YAXYEMBE. 

Ujiji  on  their  return  trip  May  26th,.  1858 ;  their  departure 
resembled  a  flight  more  than  a  peaceable  expedition.  "  Kan- 
nena,"  says  Burton,  "  showed  no  pity  to  the  homeless  stran- 
ger— may  the  world  show  none  to  him  !" 

There  was  little  novelty  in  the  return  march  to  Unyanyem- 
be.  The  Rusigi  River  was  forded  on  the  1st  of  June.  At 
the  salt-pass,  where  a  short  halt  was  made  to  lay  in  a  supply 
of  salt,  several  porters  deserted.  "The  guide,  who  had 
accompanied  the  expedition  from  the  coast,  remained  behind, 
because  his  newly -purchased  slave  girl  had  become  foot-sore, 
and  unable  to  advance ;  finding  the  case  hopeless,  he  cut  off 
her  head,  lest  of  his  evil, good  might  come  to  another.  The 
bull-headed  Mabruki  had  invested  his  capital  in  a  small  ser- 
vile, an  infant  phenomenon,  who,  apparently  under  six  years, 
trotted  manfully  alongside  the  porters,  bearing  his  burden  of 
hide-bed  and  water-gourd  upon  his  tiny  shoulder.  For  some 
days  he  was  to  his  surly  master  as  her  first  doll  to  a  young 
girl :  when  tired  he  was  mounted  upon  the  back,  and  after 
crossing  every  swamp  his  feet  were  carefully  wiped.  When 
the  novelty,  however,  wore  off,  the  little  unfortunate  was  so 
savagely  beaten  that  I  insisted  upon  his  being  committed  to 
the  far  less  hard-hearted  Bombay. 

"  The  land  in  the  higher  levels  was  already  drying  up,  the 
vegetation  had  changed  from  green  to  yellow,  and  the  strips 
of  grassy  and  tree-clad  rock,  buttressing  the  left  bank  of  the 
river,  afforded  those  magnificent  spectacles  of  conflagration 
which  have  ever  been  favorite  themes  with  the  Indian  muse : 

" '  Silence  profound 

Enwraps  the  forest,  save  where  bubbling  springs 
Gush  from  the  rock,  or  where  the  echoing  hills 
Give  back  the  tiger's  roar,  or  where  the  boughs 
Burst  into  crackling  flame  and  wide  extends 
The  blaze  the  dragon's  fiery  breath  has  kindled.' " 

The  travelers  reached  Kazeh  on  the  20th  of  June,  and  were 
warmly  welcomed  by  Snay  bin  Amir,  and  reinstated  in  their 
old  quarters. 

On  the  10th  of  July  Captain  Speke  started  from  Kazeh  on 


DISCOVERY  OF  VICTORIA  N'YANZA.  333 

an  excursion  northward  to  visit  a  sea  or  lake  which  the  Arabs 
said  they  had  discovered.  The  trip  was  a  very  successful 
one  and  resulted  in  the  discovery,  on  the  30th  of  July,  of 
Victoria  N'yanza.  Speke  rejoined  Burton  at  Kazeh  on  the 
25th  of  August,  and  on  the  26th  of  September  they  started 
for  the  coast. 

At  Hanga,  Speke  was  dangerously  ill,  which  occasioned  a 
halt  of  nine  days. 

On  the  third  of  November,  the  caravan  issuing  from  Tura 
plunged  manfully  into  the  Fiery  Field,  and  after  seven 
marches  in  as  many  days,  halted  for  breath  and  forage  at 
Jiwe  la  Mkoa,  the  Round  Stone. 

"  The  transit  of  Ugogo  occupied  three  weeks,  from  the 
14th  of  November  to  the  5th  of  December.  In  Ivanyenye 
we  were  joined  by  a  large  down-caravan  of  Wanyamwezi, 
carrying  ivories ;  the  musket-shots  which  announced  the  con- 
clusion of  certain  brotherly  ties  between  the  sons  of  Ramji 
and  the  porters,  sounded  in  my  ears  like  minute-guns  announc- 
ing the  decease  of  our  hopes  of  a  return  to  the  coast  via  Kilwa. 

"  The  morning  of  the  15th  of  December  commenced  with  a 
truly  African  scene.  The  men  were  hungry,  and  the  air  was 
chill.  They  prepared,  however,  to  start  quietly  betimes. 
Suddenly  a  bit  of  rope  was  snatched,  a  sword  flashed  in  the 
air,  a  bow-horn  quivered  with  nocked  arrow,  and  the  whole 
caravan  rushed  frantically  with  a  fearful  row  to  arms.  As  no 
one  dissuaded  the  party  from  « fighting  it  out,'  they  apparently 
became  friends,  and  took  up  their  loads.  My  companion  and 
I  rode  quietly  forward  :  scarcely,  however,  had  we  emerged 
from  the  little  basin  in  which  the  camp  had  been  placed,  than 
a  terrible  hubbub  of  shouts  and  yells  announced  that  the  sec- 
ond act  had  commenced.  After  a  few  minutes,  Said  bin 
Salim  came  forward  in  trembling  haste  to  announce  that  the 
jemadar  had  again  struck  a  pagazi,  who,  running  into  the 
nullah,  had  thrown  stones  "with  force  enough  to  injure  his 
assailant,  consequently  that  the  Baloch  had  drawn  their  sabres 
and  had  commenced  a  general  massacre  of  porters. 

"Well  understanding  this  misrepresentation,  we  advanced 


384:  RETURN  TO  THE  COAST. 

about  a  mile,  and  thence  sent  back  two  of  the  sons  of  Ramji 
to  declare  that  we  would  not  be  delayed,  and  that  if  not  at 
once  followed,  we  would  engage  other  porters  at  the  nearest 
village.  This  brought  on  a  denouement :  presently  the  com- 
batants appeared,  the  Baloch  in  a  high  state  of  grievance,  the 
Africans  declaring  that  they  had  not  come  to  fight  but  to 
carry.  I  persuaded  them  both  to  defer  settling  the  business 
till  the  evening,  when  both  parties,  well  crammed  with  food, 
listened  complacently  to  that  gross  personal  abuse,  which,  in 
these  lands,  represents  a  reprimand." 

Proceeding  onward,  the  travelers  reached  Zumgomero  on 
the  29th  of  December,  and  remained  there  till  January  21st. 
Twelve  marches  brought  them  to  the  East  Coast,  at  a  place 
a  few  miles  southerly  of  Bagamoyo.  "  There  was  but  little 
of  interest  or  adventure  on  this  return  line." 

"  On  the  30th  of  January  our  natives  of  Zanzibar  scream- 
ed with  delight  at  the  sight  of  the  mango-tree,  and  pointed 
out  to  one  another,  as  they  appeared  in  succession,  the  old  fa- 
miliar fruits,  jacks  and  pine-apples,  limes  and  cocos.  On  the 
2d  of  February  we  greeted,  with  doffed  caps  and  three  times 
three  and  one  more,  as  Britons  will  do  on  such  occasions,  the 
kindly  smiling  face  of  our  father  Neptune,  as  he  lay  basking 
in  the  sunbeams  between  earth  and  air.  Finally,  the  3d  of 
February,  1859,  saw  us  winding  through  the  poles  decorated 
with  skulls — a  negro  Temple-bar  which  pointed  out  the  way 
into  the  little  maritime  village  of  Konduchi. 

"  Our  entrance  was  attended  with  the  usual  ceremony,  now 
familiar  to  the  reader ;  the  warmen  danced,  shot,  and  shout- 
ed, a  rabble  of  adults,  youths,  and  boys  crowded  upon  us,  the 
fair  sex  lulliloo'd  with  vigor,  and  a  general  procession  con- 
ducted their  strangers  to  the  hut  swept,  cleaned,  and  garnish- 
ed for  us  by  old  Premji,  the  principal  Banyan  of  the  head- 
quarter village,  and  there  stared  and  laughed  till  they  could 
stare  and  laugh  no  more." 


CHAPTER  XXIH. 
FKOM  ZANZIBAR  TO  UNYANYEMBE. 

MR.  STANLEY  arrived  at  Zanzibar  on  the  6th  of  January 
1871,  and  after  preparing    for  his  journey  as  far  as  it 
could  be  done  on  the  island,  he  sailed  over  to  Bagamoyo,  a 
distance  of  about  twenty-five  miles,  where  he  completed  his 
outfit  and  final  arrangements. 

On  the  first  day  of  April  he  started  from  Bagamoyo, 
bringing  up  the  rear  of  his  caravan,  portions  of  which  had 
been  sent  ahead,  with  orders  to  proceed  to  Unyanyembe  as 
fast  as  possible  and  there  await  the  arrival  of  the  balance  of 
the  caravan. 

Unyanyembe,  the  central  and  principal  province  of  Unyam- 
wezi,  is  the  great  bandari  or  meeting  place  of  traders,  going 
from  the  Coast  to  Lake  Tanganyika,  and  the  point  of  depart- 
ure for  caravans,  which  thence  radiate  into  the  interior  of 
Central  Intertropical  Africa.  Here  it  is  customary  for 
travelers  to  take  a  long  rest  before  resuming  the  journey,  and 
caravans  are  frequently  delayed  here  from  two  to  three 
months. 

Between  the  two  places  are  three  or  more  well-worn  cara- 
van routes,  which  occasionally  meet  and  again  diverge.  Mr. 
Stanley's  route,  for  a  portion  of  the  way,  was  a  little  north- 
erly of  that  taken  by  Mr.  Burton,  and  consequently  some- 
what shorter.  Burton  and  Speke  were  one  hundred  and 
thirty-four  days  in  making  the  journey,  but  were  delayed 
come  by  sickness. 

20  383 


386        ~  STANLEY'S  EASTERX  TRAVELS. 

Kwihara,  where  tlie  Stanley  Expedition  was  quartered 
during  its  stay  at  Unyanyembe,  is  a  little  settlement  situated  a 
short  distance  from  the  larger  village  of  Tabora.  The  follow- 
ing narrative  of  the  journey  from  Bagamoyo  to  Unyanyembe, 
was  written  at  Kwihara,  July  4th,  1871,  and  forwarded  to 
the  Herald. 

"  Your  Expedition,  sent  out  under  me,  has  arrived  in  Unyan- 
yembe. "Were  you  living  at  Zanzibar,  or  on  the  East  African 
coast,  you  would  have  a  much  better  idea  what  the  above  few 
words  meant  than  you  have  now.  You  would  know,  with- 
out any  explanation,  that  it  had  traveled  five  hundred  and 
twenty-five  and  one-half  miles,  and  if  you  heard  that  we  had 
traveled  that  great  distance  within  eighty-two  days — &  little 
under  three  months — you  would  at  once  know  that  we  had 
marched  it  in  a  very  short  time ;  but  since  you  and  your 
readers  live  in  America,  I  must  return  to  the  Island  of  Zan- 
zibar, close  to  the  coast  of  East  Africa,  whence  we  started, 
and  give  you  a  brief  summary  of  the  incidents  and  misfor- 
tunes which  befell  us  throughout  the  march. 

The  instructions  which  I  received  from  you  close  on  two 
years  ago,  were  given  with  the  usual  brevity  of  the  Herald. 
They  were, 

"  Find  out  Livingstone,  and  get  what  news  you  can  relating 
to  his  discoveries." 

But  before  seeking  Livingstone  in  the  unknown  wilds  of 
Africa,  I  had  other  orders  to  fulfill  which  you  had  given  me. 
I  had  to  be  present  at  the  inauguration  of  the  Suez  Canal ;  I 
had  to  ascend  the  Nile  to  the  first  cataract ;  I  had  to  write 
full  accounts  of  what  I  had  seen  and  what  was  done — a  guide 
to  Lower  and  Upper  Egypt. 

From  Egypt  I  was  instructed  to  go  to  Jerusalem,  write  up 
what  "Warren  was  discovering  under  that  famous  city ;  thence 
I  had  to  proceed  to  the  Crimea,  whence  I  was  to  send  you 
descriptions  of  Sebastopol  as  it  stands  to-day,  of  the  grave- 
yards in  and  about  it,  of  the  battle-fields  where  England  and 
France  met  Eussia  in  the  shock  of  war.  This  done,  I  had  to 
travel  through  the  Caucasus,  visit  Turkestan,  find  out  what 


Volcano    Mt.Settima   ^^?;;4" 
Doenyomburo|ftj   _  "'^luji-t' Keni 


VICTORIA       1     Volcano 
JMt.Doenyonn 


MAP  OF  EXPLORER'S  ROUTES. 


388  PREPARATIONS  AT  ZANZIBAR— BUYING  BEADS. 

Stoletoff  and  the  Russians  were  doing  towards  the  conquest 
of  the  Oxias  Valley,  and  then  advance  towards  India.  Next 
I  had  to  travel  through  the  length  of  Persia,  and  write  about 
the  Euphrates  Valley,  the  railroad  that  has  been  on  the  tapis 
BO  long,  and  its  prospects. 

Lastly,  I  had  to  sail  to  the  African  Coast,  and,  according  as 
circumstances  guided  me,  seek  out  Livingstone,  and  ascertain 
from  him  what  discoveries  he  had  made — only  such  facts  as 
he  would  be  pleased  to  give  to  one  who  had  made  such  efforts 
to  reach  him.  Quickly  and  briefly  as  the  instructions  were 
given  by  you,  their  performance  required  time,  and  a  large 
expenditure  of  money.  What  I  have  already  accomplished 
has  required  nineteen  months. 

I  arrived  at  Zanzibar  on  the  6th  of  January  of  this  year, 
and  at  once  set  about  making  the  necessary  inquiries  from 
parties  who  ought  to  know  about  the  whereabouts  of  Dr.  Liv- 
ingstone. The  most  that  I  could  glean  was,  that  he  was  in 
the  neighborhood  of  Ujiji,  which  was  a  little  over  nine  hun- 
dred miles  from  the  coast.  It  would  never  do  to  return  to 
Bombay  or  Aden  with  such  scanty  and  vague  news,  after  the 
time  and  money  expended  in  reaching  Zanzibar.  Why,  all 
the  world  knew  or  supposed  such  to  be  the  fact.  "What  was 
I  to  do  ?  Go  by  all  means,  and  never  to  return  unless  I  could 
better  such  information.  Go  I  did. 

It  occupied  me  a  month  to  purchase  such  things  as  were 
necessary,  and  to  organize  an  expedition  to  collect  such  infor- 
mation as  would  be  useful  to  me  in  the  long  march,  and 
would  guide  me  in  the  new  sphere  in  which  I  found  myself. 
The  expense  which  you  were  incurring  frightened  me  consid- 
erably ;  but  then  "  obey  orders  if  you  break  owners  "  is  a 
proverb  among  sailors,  and  one  which  I  adopted.  Besides,  I 
was  too  far  from  the  telegraph  to  notify  you  of  such  an 
expense,  or  to  receive  further  orders  from  you  ;  the  prepara- 
tions for  the  expedition  therefore  went  on.  Eight  thousand 
dollars  were  expended  in  purchasing  the  cloth,  beads,  and 
wire  necessary  in  my  dealings  with  the  savages  of  the  terri- 
tories through  which  I  would  have  to  traverse.  As  each 


SPEKE'S  FAITHFULS— THE  GUARD  AND  THEIR  ARMS.        389 

tribe  has  its  peculiar  choice  of  cloth,  beads,  and  wire,  much 
care  was  to  be  bestowed  in  the  selection  and  arrangement  of 
these  things ;  also,  one  had  to  be  careful  that  an  over-great 
quantity  of  any  one  kind  of  cloth  or  beads  should  not  be  pur- 
chased, otherwise  such  things  would  soon  become  a  mere 
impediment  of  travel,  and  cause  a  waste  of  money.  The 
various  kinds  of  beads  required  great  time  to  learn,  for  the 
women  of  Africa  are  as  fastidious  in  their  tastes  for  beads  as 
the  women  of  New  York  are  for  jewelry.  The  measures 
also  had  to  be  mastered,  which,  seeing  that  it  was  an  entirely 
new  business  in  which  I  was  engaged,  were  rather  complicated, 
and  perplexed  me  considerably  for  a  time. 

These  things  having  been  purchased,  arranged,  and  adjusted 
in  bales  and  packages,  there  remained  for  me  to  raise  a  small 
company  of  faithful  men,  who  should  act  as  soldiers,  guards 
to  the  caravan,  and  servants  when  necessary.    Some  of  Speke's 
faithfuls  and  Burton's  soldiers  yet  lived  in  Zanzibar.     These 
were  found  out  by  Johari,  the  American  Consul's  dragoman, 
and,  as  they  were  willing  to  accompany  me,  were  immediately 
engaged.     Bombay,  the  honestest  of  black  men,  who  served 
with  Burton,  and  subsequently  with  Speke,  was  commissioned 
captain,  and  ordered  to  collect  a  company  of  twenty  men,  in 
which  he  succeeded  most  admirably.     All  these  men  are  with 
me  to-day.     I  could  not  have  been  better  served  by  any  set 
of  men  than  I  have  by  these  faithful  people.     By  twos  and 
threes  I  sent  them  out  with  the  carriers  as  they  were  collected, 
and  entrusted  to  them  my  bales  of  cloth,  bags  of  beads,  and 
coils  of  wire,  which  you  must  recollect  are  as  gold,  silver,  and 
copper  money  in  Africa.     Three  months  afterward  I  found 
every  bale,  every  bag  of  beads,  every  coil  of  wire,  in  Unyan- 
yembe,  five  hundred  and  twenty-five  and  one-half  miles  from 
Bagomoyo,  their  initial  point  on  the  African  coast. 

Arms  were  purchased  for  these  men  who  were  to  be  my 
soldiers ;  a  musket,  a  hatchet,  a  knife,  a  shot  pouch,  and  pow- 
der flask,  flints,  bullets,  and  powder  were  to  be  served  out  to 
each  man.  Then  there  were  cooking  utensils  and  dishes, 
tents  to  cover  the  property  during  the  rainy  season,  which 


390  MAKING  SADDLES— DONKEYS. 

was  fast  approaching,  to  be  required.  In  order  to  guard 
against  such  contingencies  as  might  very  possibly  arise — viz  : 
lack  of  carriers  on  the  coast,  one  very  grave  one — I  was 
obliged  to  purchase  twenty-five  donkeys,  in  which  task  I  had 
to  be  careful  lest  any  worthless  animals  might  be  passed  on 
me.  Twenty-five  saddles  for  the  donkeys  had  to  be  manu- 
factured by  myself,  or  by  such  men  as  could  understand  what 
kind  of  saddles  I  needed,  for  there  were  nothing  of  the  kind 
obtainable  at  Zanzibar. 

To  assist  me  in  such  work,  and  in  tasks  of  similar  nature,  I 
hired  two  white  men,  sailors,  who  had  been  mates  of  ships — 
one  an  Englishman  and  the  other  a  Scotchman — and  having 
cut  the  canvas  for  the  saddles,  and  cloth  for  the  tents,  gave  to 
these  practical  men  the  task  to  sew  them  up.  After  they  had 
finished  their  work  I  re-engaged  them  to  accompany  me  to 
Africa,  to  fill  the  respective  duties  of  first  and  second  mates. 

As  I  had  the  success  of  the  New  York  Herald  Expedition 
near  and  dear  to  my  heart,  constant  thinking,  about  it,  and 
the  contingencies  that  might  arise  to  prevent  its  success,  over 
and  over  I  had  long  sketched  its  march  from  the  sea  coast  to 
Ujiji,  and  knew  almost  as  well  as  if  I  had  been  there  before, 
what  kind  of  difficulties  I  should  meet.  The  following  is  one 
of  my  sketches  made  on  board  ship,  while  coming  to  Zanzi- 
bar:— 

"  One  hundred  pagazis  will  be  required  to  convey  cloth, 
beads,  and  wire  enough  to  keep  me  and  my  soldiers  for  one 
year,  and  to  pay  expenses,  such  as  hire  of  fresh  pagazis,  etc. ; 
twenty  men,  to  act  as  guards  or  soldiers ;  fifty  bales  of  cloth, 
ten  bags  of  beads,  and  five  loads  of  wire,  for  food  and  pagazi 
hire.  In  three  months  I  will  try  to  reach  Unyanyembe. 
Shall  stop  in  Unyanyembe  two  weeks  probably.  From 
Unyanyembe  is  one  month's  march  to  Ujiji,  on  the  Tangan- 
yika Lake.  And  after  ! — where  is  Livingstone  ?  If  Living- 
stone is  at  Ujiji  my  work  is  easy.  I  will  get  what  informa- 
tion I  can,  and  return  to  Unyanyembe.  The  race  is  now  for 
the  telegraph.  It  is  three  months  to  Zanzibar  and  from  Zan- 
zibar ;  as  I  was  three  months  coming  to  Zanzibar  from  Bom- 


PLANS  FOR  THE  JOURNEY.  393 

bay,  I  may  be  three  months  going  from  Zanzibar  to  Bombay. 
That  will  not  do.  "We  will  try  another  road.  To  Lake  Yic- 
toria  N'Yanza  from  Unyanyembe  is  twenty-six  days.  By 
boat  to  Uganda  would  be  fifteen  days.  From  Uganda  to 
Gondokoro  twenty  days.  From  Gondokoro  by  Dahabech 
down  the  Nile  to  Cairo,  forty  or  fifty  days.  I  have  then  the 
telegraph  from  Unyanyembe  to  Bombay  from  five  to  six 
months,  from  Unyanyembe  three  to  four  months.  The  latter 
route  is  the  best  by  far. 

"Again:  I  have  reached  Ujiji.  "Where  is  Livingstone? 
He  may  be  in  Marungu,  Ubembe,  Ugahha,  Usige,  Urundi,  or 
somewhere  else  on  the  other  side  of  the  Lake  Tanganyika. 
Shall  I  expose  my  mission,  which  requires  speed,  to  the 
caprice  of  a  King  Kanuena,  or  a  Hamed  Bin  Sulayyam  ?  No ! 
I  shall  take  my  own  boat  from  Zanzibar,  carry  it  with  me  to 
Ujiji,  and  with  it  search  its  coast  from  Ujiji  to  Marungu, 
Marungu  to  Usige,  Usige  to  Ujiji,  for  the  long  absent  Living- 
stone ;  and  the  same  boat  shall  carry  me  from  Muanza,  at  the 
southern  extremity  of  the  lake,  to  the  Ripon  Falls,  the  point 
where  the  Nile  issues  out  of  the  N'Yanza." 

This  was  one  of  many  sketches  I  made,  and  the  one  I 
adopted  for  my  guidance.  I  purchased  two  boats  in  Zanzi- 
bar— one  twenty-five  feet  long  arid  six  feet  wide,  the  other 
ten  feet  long  and  four  and  a  half  feet  wide.  I  stripped  them 
of  their  boards,  and  packed  up  the  timbers,  or  ribs,  with  a 
few  of  the  boards,  keel,  stem  and  stern  pieces,  thwarts  and" 
knees,  which  should  be  screwed  together  as  the  boat  was; 
required,  and  covered  with  double  canvas  skins  well  tarred. 
These  were  my  boats,  and  having  such  men  as  sailors  with 
me  I  doubted  not  but  they  could  be  made  to  answer.  In  the- 
absence  of  anything  better  they  must  be  made  to  answer. 

Before  leaving  Zanzibar,  Captain  Francis  R.  "Webb,  United! 
States  Consul,  introduced  me  to  Syed  Barghash,  Sultan  of 
Zanzibar  and  Pemba.  After  a  very  kind  reception,  besides 
furnishing  me  with  letters  to  Said  Bin  Salirn  (formerly  Ras 
Cafilah  to  Burton,)  now  Governor  of  Unyanyembe,  and 
Sheikh  Bin  Nasib  and  to  all  his  Arab  subjects,  he  presented 


394:  DEPARTURE  FROM  ZANZIBAR. 

me  with  an  Arab  horse.  Mr.  Goodhue,  an  American  gentle- 
man, residing  at  Zanzibar,  also  made  me  a  present  of  a  blood- 
ed horse,  imported  from  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  To  the 
other  American  gentlemen — Mr.  Spalding,  Mr.  Morse  and 
Mr.  Sparhawk — I  am  indebted  for  many  courtesies,  but  more 
particularly  to  Captain  Webb  and  Mrs.  "Webb,  whose  many 
.kindnesses  were  innumerable.  It  was  at  Captain  Webb's 
house  I  lived  for  a  month,  and  during  that  time  his  for- 
bearance knew  no  bounds;  for,  as  you  may  imagine,  I 
Uttered  his  house  with  tons  upon  tons  of  bulky  material  of 
cloth,  beads,  wire,  tar,  canvas,  tents,  utensils  and  a  thousand 
other  things. 

On  the  morning  of  the  5th  of  February,  one  month  after 
arriving  at  Zanzibar,  a  fleet  of  dhows  bore  the  expedition  and 
its  effects  from  the  Island  of  Zanzibar  to  Bagomoyo,  on  the 
main-land,  distant  about  twenty-five  miles  from  the  island. 
We  were  detained  at  Bagomoyo  nearly  two  months  for  lack 
of  -sufficient  pagazis ;  but  as  fast  as  they  were  obtained  a  small 
number  was  at  once  fitted  out,  and  despatched  to  the  interior 
under  guard  of  two  or  three  soldiers.  But  despite  the  utmost 
efforts  and  double  prices  which  I  paid  in  order  to  induce  the 
pagazis  or  carriers,  the  collecting  together  of  over  a  hundred 
men  proceeded  but  slowly.  The  reason  of  this  was,  that  the 
cholera,  which  last  year  desolated  Zanzibar  and  the  coast,  had 
frightened  the  Wanyamuezi  from  coming  to  a  place  where 
:they  were  almost  certain  to  meet  their  fate.  They  were  but 
just  recovering  from  the  effects  of, their  fear,  when  the  expe- 
dition disembarked  at  Bagomoyo. 

As  I  must  employ  the  word  pagazi  often  in  this  letter,  I  had 
best  explain  what  it  means.  A  pagazi  is  a  Wanyamuezi 
word  for  "  carrier  " — one  who  carries  ivory  or  any  other  goods 
on  his  shoulders.  This  useful  person  is  the  camel,  the  horse, 
the  mule,  the  ass,  the  train,  the  wagon,  and  the  cart  of  East 
and  Central  Africa.  Without  him  Salem  would  not  obtain 
her  ivory,  Boston  and  New  York  their  African  ebony,  their 
frankincense,  myrrh,  and  gum  copal.  He  travels  regions 
where  the  camel  .could  not  enter,  and  where  the  horse  and 


THE  HALT  AT  BAGOMOYO.  395 

the  ass  could  not  live.  He  carries  the  maximum  weight  of 
seventy  pounds  on  his  shoulders  from  Bagomoyo  to  Unyan- 
yembe,  where  he  belongs,  for  which  he  charges  from  fifteen 
doti  to  twenty -five  doti  of  American  sheeting  or  Indian  calico, 
dyed  blue,  called  kam  ki,  mixed  with  other  cloths,  imported 
from  Muscat  and  Cutch,  equal  to  from  $7.50  to  $12.50.  He 
is  therefore  very  expensive  to  a  traveler.  For  the  carriage 
of  my  goods  I  had  to  disburse  nearly  two  thousand  dollars' 
worth  of  cloth. 

The  pagazi  belongs  to  Unyamuezi  (Land  of  the  Moon),  an 
extensive  country  in  Central  Africa,  in  which  TJnyanyembe, 
the  central  depot  of  the  Arabs,  is  situated,  and  which  all  car- 
avans for  the  interior  must  reach,  and  where  they  must  obtain 
fresh  relays  of  carriers  before  they  can  proceed  further..  The 
doti  in  which  he  is  paid,  and  which  is  equivalent  to  his  dollar, 
measures  four  yards.  A  shukka  is  half  a  doti,  or  two  yards. 
The  proprietor  of  a  caravan  purchases  his  cloth  by  the  bale, 
or  gorah.  A  gorah  of  Merikani  (a  corrupted  name  for  Amer- 
ican sheeting),  means  a  piece  of  Merikani  of  thirty  yards,  into 
which  they  are  folded  up  by  the  mills  of  Salem  and  Nashua, 
N.  H.  The  gorah,  therefore,  contains  seven  and  a  half  doti, 
or  fifteen  shukka. 

During  the  two  months  we  were  halted  at  Bagomoyo  there 
was  plenty  of  work  for  us.  The  eight  thousand  yards  of 
American  sheeting  which  I  had  purchased,  had  to  be  made 
into  bales  for  the  pagazis.  A  bale  is  a  package  of  cloth 
weighing  not  more  than  seventy  pounds,  wherein  pieces  of 
American  sheeting  must  be  laid  in  layers  alternately  with 
the  cloths  of  India,  Cutch,  and  Muscat ;  so  that  if  one  bale  or 
two  are  lost,  you  do  not  lose  too  much  of  one  thing,  which 
might  by  and  by  prove  fatal  to  your  enterprise.  When  the 
cloths  are  thus  laid  in  alternate  layers,  and  the  scale  indicates 
the  maximum  weight,  a  doti  of  cloth  spread  out  receives 
them,  and  after  being  tied  or  pinned  over  it  neatly,  it  is  then 
bound  as  firmly  as  possible  with  coil  rope,  and  pounded  by 
two  men  until  the  bail  is,  one  solid  roll,  three  and  a  half  feet 
long,  a  foot  wide,  and  a  foot  deep.  It  is  then  taken  and  put 


396  A  HINT  TO  SUICIDES. 

in  a  makanda,  or  a  mat  bag,  until  the  pagazi  coming  for  his 
load  and  hire,  cradles  it  in  three  long  sticks  arranged  in  a 
fork  to  receive  it,  and  binds  the  fork  firmly  on  the  bale,  for 
the  purpose  of  protecting  the  bale  from  injury  from  rain, 
moisture,  and  white  ants,  and  for  the  convenience  of  lifting 
it  on  his  shoulder  and  stacking  it  when  his  day's  march  is 
over.  Beads  are  placed  in  long  narrow  bags  of  domestics, 
and  not  more  than  sixty-two  pounds  are  put  into  one  bag,  as 
the  bead  load  is  not  so  flexible  as  the  cloth  bale.  Wire  is 
conveyed  in  coils — six  coils  generally  considered  a  handsome 
load — averaging  sixty  pounds.  It  is  arranged  for  carriage,  in 
three  coils,  at  each  end  of  a  five-foot  pole. 

My  life  at  Zanzibar  I  thought  hard,  but  my  'two  months  at 
Bagamoyo  a  convict  at  Sing  Sing  would  not  have  envied.  It 
was  work  all  day,  thinking  all  night ;  not  an  hour  could  I 
call  my  own.  It  was  a  steady  grind  on  body  and  brain,  this 
work  of  starting.  I  state  with  truth,  now  resting  at  Unyan- 
yembe,  after  the  fatigues  of  the  long  march,  after  the  dangers 
and  vexations  we  have  suffered,  that  I  would  prefer  the  three 
months'  march,  with  all  its  horrors,  anxieties,  swamps,  and 
fevers,  to  the  two  months'  preparation  for  the  expedition  I 
had  at  Bagamoyo.  The  greatest  trouble  of  all  that  I  endured 
at  Bagamoyo — I  am  sure  you  will  smile  at  the  thought — was 
with  my  agent,  who  obtained  me  my  pagazis,  without  whom 
I  could  not  have  started  even  to  this  day — probably  never ;  for 
had  I  stayed  so  long,  I  would  have  thrown  up  the  job  as 
impracticable,  and  would  have  committed  suicide  by  putting 
my  head  in  a  barrel  of  sand,  which  I  imagine  to  be  a  most  easy 
death,  and  one  I  gratuitously  recommend  to  all  would-be  sui- 
cides. Smile  now,  please,  when  I  tell  you  that  his  name  was 
Soor  Hadji  Palloo,  and  his  age  nineteen. 

During  my  whole  stay  at  Bagamoyo,  this  young  lad  gave 
me  more  trouble  than  all  the  scoundrelism  of  the  city  of  New 
York  gives  to  its  Chief  of  Police.  Half  a  dozen  times  a  day 
I  found  him  in  dishonesty,  yet  the  boy  was  in  no  way  abashed 
by  it ;  otherwise  there  had  been  hopes  for  him.  Each  day 
he  conceived  a  new  system  of  roguery.  Every  instant  of  his 


A  YOUNG  RASCAL.  397 

time  seemed  to  be  devoted  to  devising  how  to  plunder  me, 
until  I  was  at  my  wits'  end  how  to  thwart  or  check  him. 
Exposure  before  the  people  brought  no  shame  to  his  cheeks. 
A  mere  shrug  of  the  shoulders,  which  I  was  to  interpret  any 
way  I  pleased,  was  the  only  proof  he  gave  that  he  heard  me. 
A  threat  to  reduce  his  present  had  no  effect  on  him — "  a  bird 
in  the  hand  was  worth  two  in  the  bush ;"  so  ten  dollars 
worth  of  goods  stolen  from  me  was  worth  the  promise  of 
twenty  dollars  when  his  work  should  be  finished.  Several 
times  a  day  the  young  Hindoo  dog  escaped  a  thrashing, 
because  I  knew  his  equal  for  collecting  pagazis  was  not  to  be 
found.  Will  you  believe  it,  that  after  the  most  incompar- 
able rascality,  at  the  end  of  two  months  he  had  escaped  a 
flogging  and  received  a  present  of  money  for  his  services  ? 
The  reason  was,  at  last  he  had  released  me  from  torment,  and 
I  was  free  to  go. 

The  convict  free  to  go  after  a  protracted  imprisonment — 
the  condemned  man  on  the  scaffold,  with  the  awful  cord  dang- 
ling before  his  eyes,  the  executioners  of  the  dread  sentence 
of  the  law  ready  to  perform  their  duties,  when  told  he  was  at 
liberty  to  depart,  could  not  feel  keener  pleasure  than  I  felt 
when  my  business  was  concluded  with  Soor  Hadji  Palloo,  and 
I  felt  myself  at  liberty  to  depart  on  my  mission.  Five  cara- 
vans had  already  been  dispatched — four  under  the  protection 
of  soldiers,  the  fifth  under  the  Scotchman  who  acted  as  my 
first  mate.  The  sixth  and  last  was  to  be  led  by  myself.  . 

Burton  and  Speke  arrived  at  Zanzibar  in  1857,  in  January 
— the  same  month  that  I,  fourteen  years  later,  had  arrived. 
But  as  the  masika,  or  rainy  season,  which  lasts  for  forty  days, 
was  then  drawing  near,  they  preferred  to  wait  on  the  coast, 
and  defer  their  departure  until  after  the  masika.  It  was  not 
until  the  16th  of  June  that  they  left  Zanzibar  for  Kaole  (three 
miles  below  Bagomoyo),  and  not  until  the  27th  of  the  same 
month  that  they  made  the  great  start,  the  pagazis,  soldiers,  and 
donkeys  having  been  collected  for  them  by  Ladha  Danyee, 
the  most  influential  man  in  Zanzibar,  second  only  to  the  Sul- 
tan of  the  island.  But  my  mission  was  one  that  required 


398  THE  CARAVAN  ON  THE  MARCH. 

speed ;  any  delay  would  render  it  valueless ;  immediate  depart- 
ure was  essential  to  success — departure  from  the  coast — after 
which  my  movements  would  depend,  in  a  great  measure,  on 
my  own  energy.  Forty  days'  rain,  and  a  two  hundred  mile 
swamp,  must  not  prevent  the  New  York  Herald  correspondent 
from  marching,  now  that  the  caravan  is  ready. 

On  Saturday,  the  1st  of  April,  exactly  eighty-three  days 
after  arrival  at  Zanzibar,  the  sixth  caravan,  led  by  myself, 
left  the  town  of  Bagomoyo  for  our  first  journey  westward, 
with  "  Forward"  for  its  mot  de  guet,  and  the  American  flag 
borne  aloft  by  the  Kirangozi,  or  guide  of  the  caravan.  As  it 
defiled  out  of  the  town,  we  bid  a  long  farewell  to  the  dolce 
far  nwnte  of  civilization,  to  the  blue  sea  and  its  open  road  to 
home,  and  to  the  hundreds  of  dusky  spectators,  who  were 
gathered  to  witness  our  departure  with  repeated  salvos  of 
musketry. 

The  caravan  which  I  led  consisted  of  ten  pagazis,  carrying 
the  boats;  nine  soldiers,  under  Captain  Bombay,  in  charge 
of  seventeen  donkeys  and  their  loads  ;  Selim,  my  boy  inter- 
preter ;  a  Christian  Arab  from  Jerusalem,  who  had  been  with 
me  through  Persia ;  one  cook  and  sub  from  Malabar,  and 
Shaw,  the  English  sailor,  now  transformed  into  a  rear  guard 
and  overseer,  mounted  on  a  good  riding  donkey ;  one  dog 
from  Bombay,  called  Omar,  from  his  Turkish  origin,  who 
was  to  guard  my  tent  at  night,  and  bark  at  insolent  Wagogo, 
if  not  to  bite  their  legs — a  thing  he  is  very  likely  to  do — and, 
lastly,  myself,  mounted  on  the  splendid  bay  horse  given  me 
by  Mr.  Goodhue,  the  mtongi  leader,  the  thinker,  and  reporter 
of  the  expedition. 

Altogether,  the  expedition  numbers  three  white  men,  twen- 
ty-two soldiers,  four  supernumeraires,  with  transport  train  of 
eighty-two  pagazis,  twenty-seven  donkeys  and  two  horses, 
conveying  fifty-two  bales  of  cloth,  seven  man-loads  of  wire, 
sixteen  man-loads  of  beads,  twenty  loads  of  boat  fixtures, 
three  loads  of  tents,  four  loads  of  clothes  and  personal  bag- 
gage, two  loads  of  cooking  utensils  and  dishes,  one  load  of 
medicines,  three  of  powder,  five  of  bullets,  small  shot,  and 


FAREWELL  TO  BAGOMOYO.  399 

metallic  cartridges ;  three  of  instruments  and  small  necessaries, 
such  as  soap,  sugar,  tea,  coffee,  Liebig's  extract  of  meat,  pem- 
mican,  candles,  etc.,  which  make  a  total  of  one  hundred  and 
sixteen  loads — equal  to  eight  and  a  half  tons  of  material. 

The  weapons  of  defence  which  the  expedition  possesses 
consist  of  one  double-barrelled  smooth  bore  No.  12,  two 
American  Winchester  rifles  or  "  sixteen  shooters,"  two  Starr's 
breech-loading  carbines,  one  Jocelyn  breech-loader,  one 
elephant  rifle,  carrying  balls  eight  to  the  pound  ;  two  breech- 
loading  revolvers,  twenty-four  flint-lock  muskets,  six  single- 
barrelled  pistols,  one  battle-axe,  two  swords,  two  daggers,  one 
boar  spear,  two  American  axes,  twenty-four  hatchets,  and 
twenty-four  long  knives. 

The  expedition  has  been  fitted  up  with  care ;  whatever  was 
needed  for  its  success  was  not  stinted ;  everything  was  pro- 
vided ;  nothing  was  done  too  hurriedly,  yet  everything  was 
purchased,  collected,  manufactured,  and  compounded,  with 
the  utmost  despatch  consistent  with  efficiency  and  means. 
Should  it  fail  of  success  in  its  errand,  of  rapid  marching  to 
Ujiji  and  back,  it  must  simply  happen  from  an  accident  which 
could  not  be  controlled.  So  much  for  the  personnel  of  the 
expedition  and  its  purpose. 

We  left  Bagomoyo,  the  attraction  of  all  the  curious,  with 
noisy  eclat,  and  defiled  up  a  narrow  lane,  shaded  to  twilight 
by  the  dense  umbrage  of  two  parallel  hedges  of  murlosas. 
We  were  all  in  the  highest  spirits — the  soldiers  sang  extem- 
pore, the  Kirangozi  lifted  his  voice  into  a  loud,  bellowing 
note,  and  fluttered  the  American  flag,  which  told  all  on-look- 
ers,  "  Lo,  a  musungre's  (white  man)  caravan,"  and  my  heart, 
I  thought,  palpitated  much  too  quickly  for  the  sobriety  of  a 
leader.  But  I  could  not  help  it.  The  enthusiasm  of  youth 
still  clung  to  me  despite  my  traveled  years,  my  pulses  bounded 
with  the  full  glow  of  staple  health ;  behind  me  were  the 
troubles  which  had  harassed  me  for  over  two  months ;  with 
Soor  Hadji  Palloo  I  had  said  my  last  word ;  with  the  blatant 
rabble  of  Banyans,  Arabs,  and  Beloochees,  I  had  taken  my 
last  look,  and  before  me  beamed  the  sun  of  promise  as  he 


400  THE  CAMP  AT  NIGHT. 

sped  toward  the  Occident.  Loveliness  glowed  around  me  as 
I  looked  at  the  fertile  fields  of  maiiioc,  the  riant  vegetation 
of  the  tropics,  the  beautiful,  strange  trees  and  flowers,  plants, 
and  herbs,  and  heard  the  cry  of  pee-wit  and  cricket,  and  the 
noisy  sibilance  of  many  insects ;  methought  each  and  all  whis- 
pered to  me,  "  At  last  you  are  started."  At  such  a  time  what 
more  appropriate  could  I  do  than  lift  up  my  face  toward  the 
pure,  glassy  dome  of  heaven,  and  cry  u  God  be  thanked  !" 

We  camped  that  night  on  the  banks  of  the  Kingani,  our 
dreams  being  sadly  disturbed  by  the  sportive  hippopotami, 
which  emerged  at  night  for  their  nocturnal  feed  on  the  tall, 
high  grass  that  grows  on  the  savannahs  to  the  westward  of 
the  Kingani  River. 

"  Sofari,  Sofari,  leo — a  journey,  a  journey  to-day,"  shouted 
the  Kirangozi,  as  he  prepared  to  blow  his  kudu  horn — the 
usual  signal  for  a  march. 

"  Set  out,  set  out,"  rang  the  cheery  voice  of  Captain  Bom- 
bay, echoed  by  that  of  my  drum  major,  servant,  general  help, 
and  interpreter,  Selim.  As  I  hurried  my  men  to  their  work, 
lent  a  hand  with  energy  to  drop  the  tents,  I  mentally  resolved 
that  if  my  caravans  ahead  gave  me  clear  room  for  travel,  I 
should  be  in  Unyanyembe  before  that  day  three  months.  By 
six  o'clock  A.  M.  our  early  breakfast  was  despatched,  and  the 
pagazis  and  donkeys  were  en  route  for  Kikoka.  Even  at  this 
early  hour  there  were  quite  a  collection  of  curious  natives,  to 
whom  we  gave  the  parting  "  quahary  "  with  sincerity.  My 
bay  horse  was  found  to  be  invaluable  for  the  service  of  a 
quartermaster  of  a  transport  train,  for  as  such  was  I  compelled 
to  compare  myself.  I  could  stay  behind  until  the  last  strag- 
gler had  left  the  camp,  and  by  a  few  moments'  gallop,  put 
myself  at  the  head  of  the  caravan,  leaving  the  white  man, 
Shaw,  to  bring  up  in  the  rear. 

The  road,  as  it  is,  throughout  Africa,  was  a  mere  footpath, 
leading  over  a  sandy  soil  of  surprising  fertility — producing 
grain  a  hundred  fold,  though  the  sowing  of  it  might  be  done 
in  the  most  unskillful  manner.  In  their  fields,  at  heedless 
labor,  were  men  and  women  in  the  scantiest  costumes,  com- 


STANLEY    AS    AN   EXPLORER 


CLOTHELESS  MEN  AND  WOMEN.  403 

pared  to  which  the  fig-leaf  apparel  of  our  first  parents  must 
have  been  en  grande  tenue.  Nor  were  they  at  all  abashed 
by  the  devouring  gaze  of  men  who  were  strangers  to  clothe- 
less  living  men  and  women ;  nor  did  they  seem  to  understand 
why  their  inordinate  curiosity  should  be  returned  with  more 
than  interest.  They  left  their  work  as  the  Wasungu  drew  near 
• — such  hybrids  were  they  in  white  flannels,  solar  topees,  and 
horse  boots !  But  were  the  Wasungu  desirous  of  studying 
the  principles  of  comparative  anatomy  and  physiology,  what 
a  rich  field  for  study !  We  passed  them  with  serious  faces 
enough,  while  they  giggled  and  laughed  outright,  pointing 
with  their  index  fingers  at  this  or  that  thing  in  our  dress 
which  to  them  seemed  so  strange  and  bizarre. 

The  western  side  of  the  Kingani  was  a  considerable  improve- 
ment upon  the  eastern.  "We  were  traveling  over  a  forest-clad 
and  jungly  plain,  which  heaved  upward  as  smoothly  as  the 
beach  of  a  watering  place,  culminating  at  intervals  in  rounded 
ridges,  whence  fair  views  might  be  obtained  of  the  new  and 
strange  land.  The  scenery  was  as  beautiful  as  that  which 
many  an  English  nobleman  is  proud  to  call  his  "  park."  On 
the  whole,  it  was  lawn  and  sward,  with  boscage  sufficient  to 
agreeably  diversify  it. 

Passing  Kikoka,  we  traversed  on  the  next  day,  a  young 
forest  of  ebony  trees,  where  guinea  fowl  were  seen,  besides 
pigeons,  jays,  ibis  sacra,  golden  pheasants,  quails,  moorhens, 
florican,  hawks,  eagles,  and  now  and  then  a  solitary  pelican 
winged  its  way  to  the  distance.  As  we  advanced  further  into 
the  interior,  antelopes  bounded  away  to  our  right  and  left, 
the  steinbok  and  noble  kudu  fled  in  terror,  giraffes  rushed 
away  from  us  like  moving  forests,  and  zebra  galloped  frantic 
toward  the  far  horizon  at  the  sound  of  the  strange  noises  which 
the  caravan  made. 

By  Sunday,  the  23d  of  April,  we  had  traveled  one  hundred 
and  twenty-five  miles,  and  had  reached  Simbawenni,  situated 
in  longitude  3Y°  42'  east,  latitude  6°  20'  south.  We  had 
experienced  no  trouble  on  the  road  up  to  this  place.  The 
country  was  like  that  above  described — park-like — abounding 


404  AN  AFRICAN  SULTANA  DEMANDS  TRIBUTE. 

in  large  and  noble  game.  Not  until  we  had  left  Siinbawenni 
did  we  experience  any  trouble.'' 

The  first  which  we  experienced  was  from  the  Sultana  of 
Simbawenni,  in  Usagre,  which  we  found  to  be  a  large  and 
well  built  town,  fortified  by  four  towers  and  a  stone  wall, 
having  considerable  pretensions  to  architectural  skill.  The 
Sultana  sent  her  ambassadors  to  demand  tribute  from  me.  I 
refused  to  pay,  though  she  possessed  three  hundred  muskets 
and  five  hundred  slaves,  on  the  ground  that  as  my  caravans 
had  paid  already,  I  was  exempted  from  it  according  to  her 
custom.  The  ambassadors  retired  with  a  "  Ngema  " — very 
well. 

Soon  after  passing  the  town  we  arrived  at  Simbo  Khombi, 
and  here  I  was  compelled  to  order  my  cook  to  be  flogged  for 
his  incorrigible  dishonesty  and  waste.  Upon  leaving  Simbo 
for  the  wilderness  and  swamp  of  Makata,  I  was  made  aware 
that  the  cook  had  deserted.  I  despatched  three  soldiers  in 
pursuit,  who,  in  the  ardor  of  following  his  tracks,  fell  into 
the  hands  of  the  Sultana  of  Simbawenni,  who  robbed  them 
of  their  guns  and  put  them  in  chains.  Some  Arabs  happen- 
ing to  see  them  in  this  condition,  and  knowing  they  were 
my  men,  made  haste  to  inform  the  Sultana  that  she  did  not 
know  what  white  people  were  capable  of  doing  if  they  were 
angered  ;  that  I  had  guns  with  me  that  would  kill  her  in  her 
house  at  the  distance  of  half  a  mile.  This  extraordinary 
announcement  caused  her  to  mitigate  her  anger  against  me, 
and  to  release  my  soldiers,  returning  one  gun  and  retaining 
two,  as  just  and  equitable  tribute.  The  cook  was  afterward 
reported  to  me  to  be  murdered. 

From  Simbo  to  Rebenneko  in  Usagre,  extends  the  terrible 
Makata  Swamp,  a  distance  of  twenty-five  miles.  It  is  knee 
deep  of  water  and  black  mire,  and  for  five  days  we  marched 
through  this  cataclysm.  From  here  commenced  the  list  of 
calamities  which  afterwards  overtook  me.  First,  the  white 
man,  Shaw,  caught  the  terrible  fever  of  East  Africa,  then  the 
Arab  boy,  Selim,  then  myself,  then  the  soldiers,  one  by  one, 
and  small  pox  and  dysentery  raged  among  us.  As  soon  as  I 


IN  DISTRESS— A  MISERABLE  PLIGHT.  405 

had  recovered  from  the  effects  of  the  fever,  I  was  attacked 
with  dysentery,  which  brought  me  to  the  verge  of  the  grave. 
Prom  a  stout  and  fleshy  person,  weighing  one  hundred  and 
seventy  pounds,  I  was  reduced  to  a  skeleton,  a  mere  frame 
of  bone  and  skin,  weighing  one  hundred  and  thirty  pounds. 
Two  pagazis  fell  victims  to  this  dysentery.  Even  the  dog, 
"  Omar,"  was  attacked  by  it,  and  presently  died. 

At  Rebenneko  we  experienced  the  last  of  the  rainy  season. 
It  had  rained  almost  every  day  since  we  had  left  Bagomoyo, 
but  until  we  had  arrived  at  the  verge  of  the  Makata  Swamp, 
we  did  not  experience  much  inconvenience  from  it. 

Two  days  beyond  Rebenneko  we  caught  up  with  the  fourth 
caravan,  which  had  been  sent  out  under  the  leadership  of  the 
Scotchman.  I  found  the  white  man  in  a  most  miserable 
plight.  All  the  donkeys — numbering  nine — that  I  had  sent 
out  with  him  were  dead,  and  he  was  attacked  by  dropsy,  or 
elephantiasis — a  disease  of  which  he  has  since  died.  He  had 
wasted  upward  of  six  bales  of  cloth,  five  of  which  had  been 
entrusted  to  him  to  convey  to  Unyanyembe.  An  Arab  pro- 
prietor would  have  slaughtered  him  for  his  extravagance  and 
imbecility  ;  but  I — I  had  no  other  course  but  to  relieve  him 
of  all  charge  of  such  goods.  Had  I  not  foreseen  some  such 
mismanagement,  and  provided  plenty  of  cloth  against  such 
loss,  I  should  have  been  compelled  to  return  to  the  coast  for 
more  bales  to  replace  them. 

By  the  24th  of  May  we  had  traveled  two  hundred  and' 
seventy-eight  miles,  and  had  entered  the  dangerous  land  of 
the  Wagogo.  We  had  passed  through  the  territories  of  the 
Wakami,  Wakwere,  Wadoe,  Wasegura,  Wasagara,,  and 
"Wahehe.  We  had  crossed  the  rivers  Kingani,  Ungerengori, 
Little  Makata,  Great  Makata,  Rudewa,  and  Mukondokwa. 
We  had  discovered  the  sources  of  the  Kingani,  Wami,  and 
Mukondokwa  rivers,  and  the  Lake  of  Ugombo,  three  miles 
long  by  two  and  one-half  miles  wide.  Our  losses  up  to  thia- 
date  were  seventeen  donkeys  dead,  one  coil  of  wire  stolen.., 
one  tent  eaten  up  by  white  ants,  one  tent  lost;  also  one  axef 
one  pistol,  twenty  pounds  of  bullets,  and  Captain!  Bombay's- 
21 


406  IN  THE  MAKATA  SWAMP— WAGOGO  LAND. 

stock  of  uniform  clothes,  all  of  which  losses  I  ascribe  to  the 
fatigues  experienced  during  the  transit  of  the  Makata  Swamp. 
Three  pagazis  had  deserted,  two  were  dead ;  also,  one  white 
man  and  two  natives  of  Malabar  had  died.  The  two  horses 
died  on  the  third  day  after  leaving  Bagomoyo — so  fatal  is 
this  land  to  both  men  and  animals. 

In  entering  Ugogo  we  were  entering  a  new  land,  to 
.meet  with  different  dangers,  different  accidents  from  those 
\we  had  now  left  behind  us.  We  had  ascended  a  plateau  three 
rthousand  seven  hundred  to  four  thousand  two  hundred  feet 
.above  the  level  of  the  sea ;  the  extraordinary  fertility  and 
Drivers  of  the  maritime  region  we  should  not  see  in  Ugogo, 
.but  a  bare  and  sterile  plateau,  though  cultivated  by  the 
Wagogo. 

The  Wagogo  are  the  Irish  of  Africa — clanish  and  full  of 
fight.  To  the  Wagogo  all  caravans  must  pay  tribute,  the 
refusal  of  which  is  met  by  an  immediate  declaration  of  hostil- 
ities. The  tribute  which  I  alone  paid  to  these  people, 
.amounted  to  one  hundred  and  seventy  dot!  (one  hundred  and 
seventy  dollars  in  gold),  for  the  mere  privilege  of  traveling 
through  their  country  to  tlnyanyembe  beyond. 

On  the  thirtieth  day  after  entering  Ugogo  we  arrived  in 
"Unyanyembe,  at  the  Arab  village  of  Kwihara — so  called  from 
the  plain  of  Kwihara,  in  which  it  is  situated.  The  march  of 
this  last  month  had  been  very  rapid,  we  having  traveled  two 
hundred  and  forty-seven  and  one-half  miles,  while  the  pre- 
vious march  of  two  hundred  and  seventy-eight  miles,  viz., 
from  Bagomoyo  to  Ugogo,  had  occupied  fifty-four  days. 
Altogether  we  had  traveled  five  hundred  and  twenty -five  and 
one-half  miles  in  eighty-four  days,  including  halts,  which 
makes  our  rate  of  marching  per  day  six  and  a  quarter  miles. 
Burton  and  Speke  traveled  the  same  distance,  from  Kaole 
to  Unyanyembe,  in  one  hundred  and  thirty-four  days,  which 
is  .at  the  rate  of  three  and  one-sixth  miles  per  day.  You  must 
not  imagine  that  I  am  stating  this  in  order  to  make  an  in vid- 
ious  comparison,  but  simply  to  show  you  how  expeditiously 
we  have  traveled.  The  Arabs  travel  the  distance  in  from  two 


RUMORS  OF  LIVINGSTONE—"  VERY  FAT."  407 

months  and  twelve  days  to  four  months.  On  the  second 
visit  of  Speke  with  Grant  to  Unyanyembe,  he  made  the  march 
in  one  hundred  and  fifteen  days. 

I  shall  here  proceed  to  relate  what  I  have  heard  of  Living- 
stone, verbatim. 

On  the  12th  of  April  I  met  at  Moussoudi,  on  the  Ungeren- 
geri  River,  four  marches  from  Senibawenni,  Salini  bin 
Rasheed,  who  gave  me  the  following  intelligence  concerning 
Livingstone : — 

"  I  saw  the  musungu,  who  came  up  from  the  Nyassa  a  long 
time  ago,  at  Ujiji  last  year.  He  lived  in  the  next  tembe  to 
me.  He  has  a  long  white  mustache  and  beard,  and  was  very 
fat.  He  was  then  about  going  to  Marungu  and  TJniema." 

On  the  18th  of  May,  Sheikh  Abdullah  bin  Wasib  found 
me  encamped  at  Mpwapwa,  and  gave  me  the  following : — 

"  The  musungu  (white  man)  has  gone  to  Maniema,  a  month's 
march  from  Ujiji.  He  has  met  with  a  bad  accident,  having 
shot  himself  in  the  thigh  while  out  hunting  buffalo.  When 
he  gets  well  he  will  return  to  Ujiji.  There  are  many  lakes 
on  the  other  side  of  the  Tanganyika.  Lake  Ujiji  is  very 
great ;  Lake  Uruwa  is  also  great,  Lake  Bangucolo  is  great, 
but  Lake  Maniema  is  great,  exceedingly  great." 

At  Kusuri,  in  Mgunda  Mkhali,  or  the  land  of  the  Wayanzi, 
on  the  13th  of  June,  I  met  Sheikh  Thani  bin  Massoud,  who 
imparted  the  following  : — 

"  You  are  asking  me  about  the  musungu  wrhom  people  call 
'  Dochter  Fellusteen '  (Dr.  Livingstone)  ?" 

"Yes." 

"  I  lived  near  him  about  three  months  at  Ujiji.  His  men 
have  all  deserted  him,  except  three  slaves,  whom  he  was 
obliged  to  buy." 

"Why?" 

"  He  used  to  beat  his  men  very  hard,  if  they  did  not  do 
instantly  what  he  told  them.  At  last  they  all  ran  away ;  no 
one  would  stop  with  him.  He  had  nothing  with  him,  no 
cloth  nor  beads,  to  buy  food  for  a  long  time  ;  so  he  had  to 
go  out  and  hunt  buffalo  every  day.  He  is  a  very  old  man, 


408  STANLEY'S  PROMISE. 

and  very  fat,  too ;  has  a  long  white  beard.  He  is  a  great 
eater,  Mashallah  1  lie  would  eat  a  pot  of  ghee  and  a  big  plate- 
ful of  rice  three  or  four  times  a  day.  Mashallah !  but  do  you 
see  this  thing  (pointing  to  a  tea  saucer)  ?" 

"Yes." 

"  Well  he  would  eat  that  full  of  butter,  with  a  pot-full  of 

ugali  (porridge)." 

On  the  16th  of  Juno  I  met  Hassan,  a  Balooch  soldier  of 
Sheikh  Said  bin  Salim,  of  Unyanyembe,  who  gave  news 
about  Livingstone  to  this  effect : — 

"  He  is  a  very  old  man,  with  a  beard  nearly  white.  His 
left  shoulder  is  out  of  joint  from  a  fight  he  had  with  a  suriba 
(lion).  He  has  gone  to  Maniema  with  some  Arabs.  Maniema 
is  three  months'  march  from  Ujiji.  He  is  about  returning  to 
Ujiji  soon,  owing  to  a  letter  he  received  from  the  '  Balyuz  ' 
(Consul).  They  say  that  although  he  has  been  out  here  so 
long  he  has  done  nothing.  He  has  fifteen  bales  of  cloth  at 
Unyanyembe,  not  yet  sent  to  him." 

At  this  place  I  have  received  the  following  additional  infor- 
mation : — 

"  He  is  on  the  road  to  TJiiii  from  Lake  Maniema,  which 

J    ti 

is  west  of  Ugubba.  The  lake  is  fifteen  camps  from  the 
Tanganyika,  in  a  south-southwest  direction." 

With  me  are  going  to  Ujiji,  for  him,  fifteen  loads  of  cloth, 
eight  loads  of  beads,  and  twelve  boxes,  containing  wine,  provis- 
ions — such  as  sugar,  tea,  salt,  pepper,  spices,  and  such  little  lux- 
uries— besides  clothes,  books,  and  newspapers.  If  at  Ujiji  in 
one  month  more  I  shall  see  him,  the  race  for  home  shall  begin. 
Until  I  hear  more  of  him,  or  see  the  long  absent  old  man  face 
to  face,  I  bid  you  farewell ;  but  wherever  he  is,  be  sure  I 
shall  not  give  up  the  chase.  If  alive,  you  shall  hear  what  he 
has  to  say  ;  if  dead,  I  will  find  and  bring  his  bones  to  you. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 
THE  WAK  IN  UNYANYEMBE. 

TTNYAMWEZI,  Country  of  the  Moon,  must  have  once 
U  been  one  of  the  largest  kingdoms  of  Africa ;  but  instead 
of  being  united,  it  is  now  cut  up  into  petty  states,  the  results 
of  quarrels  and  wars.  The  largest  and  most  central  district 
is  Unyanyembe,  which  has  a  native  ruler  called  a  sultan,  and 
also  a  governor  of  the  Arab  colony  there  located. 

The  central  position  and  comparative  safety  of  Unyan- 
yembe have  made  it  the  head-quarters  of  the  Omani,  or  pure 
Arabs,  who  in  many  cases  live  here  for  years,  while  their 
slaves  and  agents  penetrate  the  interior. 

This  part  of  Unyanyembe  was  first  colonized  about  1852, 
when  the  Arabs  who  had  been  settled  for  nearly  ten  years  at 
Kegandu,  a  long  day's  march  northward  from  Tabora,  were 
induced  by  the  African  ruler  of  the  district  to  aid  them 
against  Msimbira,  a  rival  chief. 

The  Arabs,  after  five  or  six  days  of  skirmishing,  were  upon 
the  point  of  carrying  the  palisade  of  Msimbira,  when  sudden- 
ly at  night  their  slaves,  tired  of  eating  beef  and  raw  ground- 
nuts, secretly  deserted  to  a  man.  The  masters  awaking  in  the 
morning  found  themselves  alone,  and  made  up  their  minds 
for  annihilation.  Fortunately  for  them,  the  enemy,  suspect- 
ing an  ambuscade,  remained  behind  their  walls,  and  allowed 
the  merchants  opportunity  to  withdraw  to  central  Unyan- 
yembe, where  they  located  themselves. 

In  such  a  country  and  surrounded  by  such  people,  wars  and 

409 


4:10  WARS  IN  UXYAXYEMBE. 

rumors  of  wars  are  no  novelty  to  the  Arabs  of  Unyanyembe. 
They  are  frequently  involved  in  the  quarrels  between  the  na- 
tive tribes  around  them,  and  sometimes  badly  defeated.  When 
Speke  visited  Unyanyembe  in  1861,  the  Arabs  were  at  war 
with  Sera,  a  young  Wanyamuezi  chief,  who  had  attempted  to 
tax  them. 

The  Arabs  had  an  army  of  four  hundred  slaves  ready  to 
take  the  field  against  Sera  when  Speke  arrived,  and  he 
endeavored  unsuccessfully  to  effect  a  reconciliation  between 
them,  as  Sera's  father  who  was  dead,  had  been  his  friend. 

The  quarrel,  however,  went  on.  The  Tura  people  who 
had  sheltered  Sera,  were  attacked  by  the  Arabs,  shot  and 
murdered  and  their  district  plundered ;  a  report  that  Sera 
was  about  to  attack  Tabora,  recalled  the  Arabs  and  set  the 
place  in  a  blaze  of  excitement.  Much  fighting  ensued,  and 
when  Speke  left  the  neighborhood  the  Arabs  were  boasting 
that  if  Sera  "  ran  to  the  top  of  the  highest  mountain  or  down 
into  hell,  they  would  follow  him  and  put  him  to  death." 

It  is  not  strange  therefore  that  Mr.  Stanley  soon  after  his 
arrival  at  Unyanyembe,  found  himself  in  the  midst  of  a  war 
between  the  Arabs  and  a  native  chief.  He  had  intended  to 
remain  at  this  place  only  long  enough  to  rest  his  men  and 
obtain  such  supplies  as  would  be  necessary  on  his  journey  to 
TJjiji  on  Lake  Tanganyika,  where  he  expected  to  find  Living- 
stone or  obtain  news  of  him. 

The  Expedition  up  to  its  arrival  at  Unyanyembe,  had 
suffered  considerably  in  its  personnel  and  transport.  Mr. 
Farquhar,  the  Scotchman,  was  dead ;  two  of  the  armed  escort 
and  eight  of  the  porters  had  also  died  from  dysentery  and 
small-pox.  Two  horses  and  twenty  seven  donkeys  had  either 
died  or  strayed  away.  As  a  consequence  a  considerable 
quantity  of  the  goods  were  either  lost  or  wasted ;  but  the 
rolls  of  cloth,  beads  and  wire  had  been  as  far  as  possible  pre- 
served, they  being  the  only  money  current  in  Central  Africa. 

Early  in  July,  every  thing  was  prepared  for  a  start,  but 
before  long  it  .was  found  that  almost  insuperable  difficulties 
were  interposed.  The  country  there  is  composed  of  thick 


MIRAMBO'S  THREATS.  411 

jungle,  with  large  clearings  for  the  cultivation  of  holcns. 
The  utmost  alarm  and  excitement  were  spread  through  the 
native  villages  at  the  expectation  of  a  war.  The  inhabitants 
were  shy  of  intercourse,  and  it  was  with  great  difficulty  that 
supplies  could  be  obtained.  A  little  further  on,  the  villages 
on  either  side  of  the  track  were  found  to  be  filled  with  Arab 
caravans,  afraid  to  advance  and  gathered  together  for  security  • 
the  cause  of  all  this  alarm  was  soon  discovered. 

Mirambo,  king  of  Uyoweh,  in  western  Unyamwezi,  had 
been  levying  black-mail  to  an  unconscionable  amount,  upon  all 
caravans  bound  westward  to  Ujiji,  the  lake  and  the  regions 
lying  beyond  ;  to  Urundi,  to  Karague,  Uganda  and  ITnyoro. 
The  road  to  these  countries  led  through  his  country — a  serious 
misfortune  not  only  to  the  expedition  but  to  all  caravans 
bound  anywhere  westward.  About  the  time  the  expedition 
arrived,  Mirambo  capped  his  arbitrary  course  by  taking  from  a 
caravan  five  bales  of  cloth,  five  guns  and  five  kegs  of  powder, 
and  then  refusing  it  permission  to  pass,  declaring  that  none 
should  do  so  except  over  his  body. 

The  cause  of  Mirambo's  conduct  was  this : — Having  an  old 
grudge  against  Mkasiwa,  sultan  of  Unyanyembe — with  whom 
the  Arabs  were  living  on  extremely  friendly  terms — Mirambo 
proposed  to  the  Arabs  that  they  should  join  with  him  in  a 
campaign  against  Mkasiwa.  The  Arabs  refused  to  do  this,  as 
Mkasiwa  was  their  friend  with  whom  they  were  living  on 
peaceable  terms.  Mirambo  then  sent  a  message  to  them  as 
follows : — 

"  For  many  years  I  have  fought  against  "Washeuse  (the 
natives),  but  this  year  is  a  great  year  with  me.  I  intend  to 
fight  all  the  Arabs,  as  well  as  Mkasiwa,  King  of  Unyan- 
yembe." 

This  of  course  led  to  a  declaration  of  war  on  the  part  of 
Arabs,  who  were  so  confident  of  easy  victory  over  the  Afri- 
can Sultan,  declaring  that  fifteen  days  at  the  most  would  suf- 
fice to  settle  him,  that  Stanley  was  tempted  in  an  unlucky 
moment,  to  promise  them  his  aid,  hoping  that  by  this  means, 
he  would  be  enabled  to  reach  Livingstone  sooner  than  by 


412  STANLEY  JOINS  THE  ARABS. 

stopping  at  Unyanyembe,  awaiting  the  tnra  of  events. 
Mirambo  was  twenty-seven  hours  march  from  Unyanyembe. 

The  Arabs  appeared  to  anticipate  a  speedy  victor}-,  and 
preparations  for  a  jungle  fight  were  accordingly  made.  The 
ammunition  was  looked  to,  muskets  inspected,  and  matchlocks 
cleaned.  The  superior  armament  of  the  Herald  Expedition 
made  their  assistance  a  matter  of  great  importance  to  the 
Arabs. 

An  address  was  delivered  to  the  members  of  the  expedi- 
tion through  Selim,  the  interpreter,  and  the  forces,  with  the 
American  flag  flying,  were  marshalled  by  Captain  Seedy 
Bombay. 

At  daybreak  on  the  day  following,  according  to  previous 
arrangement,  the  armed  men  were  divided  into  three  parties. 
The  van-guard  for  attack,  the  rear  guard  as  immediate  reserve, 
and  the  remainder,  consisting  of  the  less  active,  were  stationed 
with  the  impedimenta  and  slaves  in  the  kraals.  Mr.  Stanley 
gives  the  incidents  of  the  campaign  as  follows  : — 

"On  the  20th  of  July,  a  force  of  two  thousand  men,  the 
slaves  and  soldiers  of  the  Arabs,  marched  from  Unyanyembe 
to  fight  Mirambo.  The  soldiers  of  the  Herald  Expedition  to 
the  number  of  forty,  under  my  leadership,  accompanied 
them.  Of  the  Arabs'  mode  of  fighting  I  was  totally  igno- 
rant, but  I  intended  to  be  governed  by  circumstances.  We 
made  a  most  imposing  show,  as  you  may  imagine.  Every 
slave  and  soldier  was  decorated  with  a  crown  of  feathers, 
and  had  a  lengthy  crimson  cloak  flowing  from  his  shoulders 
and  trailing  on  the  ground.  Each  was  armed  with  either  a 
flintlock  or  percussion  gun — the  Baloches  with  matchlocks, 
profusely  decorated  with  silver  bands. 

Our  progress  was  noisy  in  the  extreme — as  if  noise  would 
avail  much  in  the  expected  battle.  While  traversing  the 
Unyanyembe  plains  the  column  was  very  irregular,  owing  to 
the  extravagant  show  of  wild  fight  which  they  indulged  in  as 
we  advanced.  On  the  second  day  we  arrived  at  Mfuto,  where 
we  all  feasted  on  meat  freely  slaughtered  for  the  braves. 
Here  I  was  attacked  with  a  severe  fever,  but  as  the  army 


THE  FIGHT  WITII  MIRAMBO.  413 

was  for  advancing  I  had  myself  carried  in  my  hammock, 
almost  delirious.  On  tl*e  fourth  day  we  arrived  at  the  vil- 
lage of  Zimbizo,  which  was  taken  without  much  trouble. 
"We  had  arrived  in  the  enemy's  country.  I  was  still  suffer- 
ing from  fever,  and  while  conscious  had  given  strict  orders 
that  unless  all  the  Arabs  went  together  none  of  my  men 
should  go  to  fight  with  any  small  detachment. 

On  the  morning  of  the  fifth  day  a  small  detachment  went 
out  to  reconnoitre,  and  while  out  captured  a  spy,  who  was 
thrown  on  the  ground  and  had  his  head  cut  off  immediately. 
Growing  valiant  over  this  little  feat,  a  body  of  Arabs  under 
Soud,  son  of  Said  bin  Majio,  volunteered  to  go  and  capture 
Wilyankuru,  where  Mirambo  was  just  then  with  several  of 
his  principal  chiefs.  They  were  five  hundred  in  number 
and  very  ardent  for  the  fight.  I  had  suggested  to  the  Gov- 
ernor, Said  bin  Salirn,  that  Soud  bin  Said,  the  leader  of  the 
five  hundred  volunteers,  should  deploy  his  men  and  fire  the 
long  dry  grass  before  they  went,  that  they  might  rout  all 
the  forest  thieves  out  and  have  a  clean  field  for  action.  But 
an  Arab  will  never  take  advice,  and  they  marched  out  of 
Zimbizo  without  having  taken  this  precaution.  They  arrived 
before  "Wilyankuru,  and  after  firing  a  fewr  volleys  into  the 
village,  rushed  in  at  the  gate  and  entered  the  village. 

"While  they  entered  by  one  gate  Mirambo  took  four  hun- 
dred of  his  men  out  by  another  gate,  and  instructed  them  to 
lie  down  close  to  the  road  that  led  from  Wilyankuru  to 
Zimbizo,  and  when  the  Arabs  would  return  to  get  up  at  a 
given  signal,  and  each  to  stab  his  man.  The  Arabs  found  a 
good  deal  of  ivory  and  captured  a  large  number  of  slaves, 
and,  having  loaded  themselves  with  everything  they  thought 
valuable,  prepared  to  return  by  the  same  road  they  had 
gone.  When  they  had  arrived  opposite  to  where  the 
ambush  party  was  lying  on  each  side  the  road,  Mirambo 
gave  the  signal,  and  the  forest  thieves  rose  as  one  man. 
Each  taking  hold  of  his  man  speared  him  and  cut  off  his 
head. 

Not  an  Arab  escaped,  but  some  of  their  slaves  managed  to 


414  A  PANIC-STANLEY  DESERTED 

escape  and  bring  the  news  to  us  at  Zimbizo.  There  was 
great  consternation  at  Zimbizo  wtyen  the  news  was  brought, 
and  some  of  the  principal  Arabs  were  loud  for  a  retreat, 
but  Khamis  bin  Abdallah  and  myself  did  our  utmost  to 
prevent  a  disgraceful  retreat  Next  morning,  however,  when 
again  incapacitated  by  fever  from  moving  about,  the  Gov- 
ernor came  and  told  me  the  Arabs  were  going  to  leave  for 
Unyanyembe.  I  advised  him  not  to  think  of  such  a  thing, 
as  Mirambo  would  then  follow  them  to  Unyanyembe  and 
fio-ht  them  at  their  own  doors.  As  he  retired  I  could  hear  a 

O 

great  noise  outside.  The  Arabs  and  Wanyamwezi  auxiliaries 
were  already  running  away,  and  the  Governor,  without  say- 
ing another  word,  mounted  his  donkey  and  put  himself  at 
their  head,  and  was  the  first  to  reach  the  strong  village  of 
Mfuto,  having  accomplished  a  nine  hours'  march  in  four 
hours,  which  shows  how  fast  a  man  can  travel  when  in  a 
hurry. 

One  of  my  men  came  to  tell  me  there  was  not  one  soldier 
left ;  they  had  all  run  away.  With  difficulty  I  got  up,  and  I 
then  saw  the  dangerous  position  I  had  placed  myself  in 
through  my  faith  in  Arab  chivalry  and  bravery.  I  was 
deserted  except  by  one  Khamis  bin  Abdallah,  and  he  was 
going.  I  saw  one  of  my  soldiers  leaving  without  taking  my 
tent,  which  lay  on  the  ground.  Seizing  a  pistol,  I  aimed  it 
at  him  and  compelled  him  to  take  up  the  tent.  The  white 
man,  Shaw,  as  well  as  Bombay,  had  lost  their  heads.  Shaw 
had  saddled  his  donkey  with  my  saddle  and  was  about  leav- 
ing his  chief  to  the  tender  mercies  of  Mirambo,  when  Selim, 
the  Arab  boy,  sprung  on  him,  and,  pushing  him  aside,  took 
the  saddle  off,  and  told  Bombay  to  saddle  my  donkey. 

Bombay  I  believe  would  have  stood  by  me,  as  well  as 
three  or  four  others,  but  he  was  incapable  of  collecting  his 
senses.  He  was  seen  viewing  the  flight  of  the  Arabs  with  an 
angelic  smile,  and  with  an  insouciance  of  manner  which  can 
only  be  accounted  for  by  the  charitable  supposition  that  his 
senses  had  entirely  gone.  "With  bitter  feelings  toward  the 
Arabs  for  having  deserted  me,  I  gave  the  order  to  march, 


MIRAMBO  INVADES  UNYANYEMBE.  415 

and  in  company  with  Selim,  the  brave  Arab  boy ;  Shaw,  who 
was  now  penitent;  Bombay,  who  had  now  regained  his  wits; 
Inabraki,  Speke,  Chanda,  Sarmeen  and  Uredi  Manu-a-Sera, 
arrived  at  Mf  uto  at  midnight.  Tour  of  my  men  had  been 
slain  by  Mirambo's  men. 

The  next  day  was  but  a  continuation  of  the  retreat  to 
Unyanyembe  with  the  Arabs ;  but  I  ordered  a  halt,  and  on 
the  third  day  went  on  leisurely.  The  Arabs  had  become 
demoralized;  in  their  hurry  they  had  left  their  tents  and 
ammunition  for  Mirambo. 

Ten  days  after  this,  what  I  had  forewarned  the  Arabs 
of,  came  to  pass.  Mirambo,  with  one  thousand  guns,  and 
one  thousand  and  five  hundred  Watulas,  his  allies,  invaded 
Unyanyembe,  and  pitched  their  camp  insolently  within  view 
of  the  Arab  capital  of  Tabora.  Tabora  is  a  large  collection 
of  Arab  settlements,  or  tembes,  as  they  are  called  here. 
Each  Arab  house  is  isolated  by  the  fence  which  surrounds  it. 
Not  one  is  more  than  two  hundred  yards  off  from  the  other, 
and  each  has  its  own  name,  known,  however,  to  but  a  few 
outsiders.  Thus  the  house  of  Amram  bin  Mousoud  is  called 
by  him  the  "  Two  Seas,"  yet  to  outsiders  it  is  only  known  as 
the  "  tembe  of  Amram  bin  Mousoud,"  in  Tabora,  and  the 
name  of  Kaze,  by  which  Burton  and  Speke  have  designated 
Tabora,  may  have  sprung  from  the  name  of  the  enclosed 
grounds  and  settlement  wherein  they  were  quartered.  South 
by  west  from  Tabora,  at  the  distance  of  a  mile  and  a  half, 
and  in  view  of  Tabora,  is  Kwihara,  where  the  Herald  expedi- 
tion has  its  quarters.  Kwihara  is  a  Kinyamwezi  word,  mean- 
ing the  middle  of  the  cultivation.  There  is  quite  a  large 
settlement  of  Arabs  here — second  only  to  Tabora. 

But  it  was  Tabora  and  not  Kwihara  that  Mirambo,  his  for- 
est thieves  and  the  Watula  came  to  attack.  Khamis  bin 
Abdallah,  the  bravest  Trojan  of  them  all — of  all  the  Arabs — 
went  out  to  meet  Mirambo  with  eighty  armed  slaves  and  five 
Arabs,  one  of  whom  was  his  little  son,  Khamis.  As  Khamia 
bin  Abdallah's  party  came  in  sight  of  Mirambo's  people, 
Khamis'  slaves  deserted  him,  and  Mirambo  then  gave  the 


4:16  KWIHARA  FORTIFIED— DEATH  OF  ABDALLAH. 

order  to  surround  the  Arabs  and  press  on  them.  This  little 
group  in  this  manner  became  the  targets  for  about  one  thou- 
sand guns,  and  of  course,  in  a  second  or  so  were  all  dead — 
not,  however,  without  having  exhibited  remarkable  traits  of 
character. 

They  had  barely  died,  before  the  medicine-men  came  up,  and 
•with  their  scalpels  skinned  their  faces  and  their  abdom- 
inal portions,  and  extracted  what  they  call  "  mafuta,"  or 
fat,  and  their  genital  organs.  With  this  matter  which  they 
had  extracted  from  the  dead  bodies,  the  native  doctors,  or 
waganga  made  a  powerful  medicine,  by  boiling  it  in  large 
earthen  pots  for  many  hours,  with  many  incantations  and 
shakings  of  the  wonderful  gourd  that  was  only  filled  with  peb- 
bles. This  medicine  was  drunk  that  evening  with  great  cer- 
emony, with  dances,  drum  beating  and  general  fervor  of 
heart. 

Khamis  bin  Abdallah  dead,  Mirambo  gave  his  orders  to 
plunder,  kill,  burn  and  destroy,  and  they  went  at  it  with  a 
will.  When  I  saw  the  fugitives  from  Tabora  coming  by  the 
hundred  to  our  quiet  valley  of  Kwihara,  I  began  to  think  the 
matter  serious,  and  commenced  my  operations  for  defence. 

First  of  all,  however,  a  lofty  bamboo  pole  was  procured, 
and  planted  on  the  roof  of  our^brtlet,  and  the  American  flag 
was  run  up,  where  it  waved  joyously  and  grandly,  an  omen 
to  all  fugitives  and  their  hunters. 

Then  began  the  work  of  making  ditches  and  rifle  pits  all 
around  the  court  or  enclosure.  The  strong  clay  walls  were 
pierced  in  two  rows  for  the  muskets.  The  great  door  was 
kept  open,  with  material  close  at  hand  to  barricade  it  when 
the  enemy  came  in  sight,  watchmen  were  posted  on  top  of 
the  house,  every  pot  in  the  house  was  filled  with  water,  pro- 
visions were  collected,  enough  to  stand  a  siege  of  a  month's 
duration,  the  ammunition  boxes  were  unscrewed,  and  when  I 
saw  the  three  thousand  bright  metallic  cartridges  for  the  Amer- 
ican carbines,  I  laughed  within  myself  at  the  idea  that,  after 
all,  Mirambo  might  be  settled  with  American  lead,  and  all 
this  furor  of  war  be  ended  without  much  trouble.  Before 


PLUNDER  AND  BURNING  OF  TABORA.  417 

six  P.  M.  I  had  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  muskets  and 
stout  fellows  who  had  enlisted  from  the  fugitives,  and  the 
house,  which  only  looked  like  a  f ortlet  at  first,  became  a  fort- 
let  in  reality — impregnable  and  untakable. 

All  night  we  stood  on  guard ;  the  suburbs  of  Tabora  were 
in  flames ;  all  the  Wanyamwezi  and  Wanguana  houses  were 
destroyed,  and  the  fine  house  of  Abid  bin  Sulemian  had  been 
ransacked  and  then  committed  to  the  flames,  and  Mirambo 
boasted  that  "  to-morrow  "  Kwihara  should  share  the  fate  of 
Tabora,  and  there  was  a  rumor  that  that  night  the  Arabs 
were  going  to  start  for  the  coast. 

But  the  morning  came,  and  Mirambo  departed,  with  the 
ivory  and  cattle  he  had  captured,  and  the  people  of  Kwihara 
and  Tabora  breathed  freer. 

And  now  I  am  going  to  say  farewell  to  Unyanyembe  for  a 
while.  I  shall  never  help  an  Arab  again.  He  is  no  fighting 
man,  or,  I  should  say,  does  not  know  how  to  fight,  but  knows, 
personally,  how  to  die.  They  will  not  conquer  Mirambo 
within  a  year,  and  I  cannot  stop  to  see  that  play  out.  There 
is  a  good  old  man  waiting  for  me  somewhere,  and  that  impels 
me  on.  There  is  a  journal  afar  off  which  expects  me  to  do 
my  duty,  and  I  must  do  it. 

But  Mr.  Stanley  did  not  succeed  in  getting  away  from 
Unyanyembe  as  quickly  as  he  anticipated.  Severe  attacks 
of  sickness,  the  cowardice  of  his  men,  and  the  importunities 
of  the  Arabs  who  predicted  ruin  and  death  for  the  whole 
expedition  if  it  started  for  Ujiji,  conspired  to  detain  him  at 
Kwihara.  His  life  and  experiences  there,  are  described  in  the 
next  chapter. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 
LIFE  AT  UNYANYEMBE. 

MR.  STANLEY   describes  Unyanyembe  and  his  expe- 
riences at  Kwihara  as  follows : — 

"Unyamwezi  is  a  romantic  name.  It  is  "Land  of  the  Moon" 
rendered  into  English — as  romantic  and  sweet  in  Kinyamwezi 
as  any  that  Stamboul  or  Ispahan  can  boast  is  to  a  Turk  or  a 
Persian.  The  attraction,  however,  to  a  European  lies  only  in 
the  name.  There  is  nothing  of  the  mystic,  nothing  of  the 
poetical,  nothing  of  the  romantic,  in  the  country  of  Unyam- 
wezi. I  shudder  at  the  sound  of  the  name.  It  is  pregnant 
in  its  every  syllable  to  me.  Whenever  I  think  of  the  word, 
immediately  come  thoughts  of  colycinth,  rhubarb,  calomel, 
tartar  emetic,  ipecacuanha  and  quinine  into  my  head,  and  I 
feel  qualmish  about  the  gastric  regions,  and  I  wish  I  were  a 
thousand  miles  away  from  it.  If  I  look  abroad  over  the  coun- 
try I  see  the  most  inane,  and  the  most  prosaic  country  one 
could  ever  imagine.  It  is  the  most  unlikely  country  to  a 
European  for  settlement ;  it  is  so  repulsive,  owing  to  the 
notoriety  it  has  gained  for  its  fevers.  A  white  missionary 
would  shrink  back  with  horror  at  the  thought  of  settling  in  it. 
An  agriculturist  might  be  tempted ;  but  then  there  are  so 
many  better  countries  where  he  could  do  so  much  better,  he 
would  be  a  madman  if  he  ignored  those  to  settle  in  this. 
And,  supposing  it  wrere  necessary  to  send  an  expedition,  such 
as  that  which  boldly  entered  Abyssinia,  to  Unyamwezi,  the 
results  would  be  worse  than  the  retreat  of  Napoleon  from 
Moscow.  No,  an  ordinary  English  soldier  could  never  live  here. 

418 


UNYAMWEZI  SCENERY.  421 

Yet  you  must  not  think  of  Unyamwezi  as  you  would 
of  an  American  swamp ;  you  must  not  imagine  Unyamwezi 
to  have  deep  morasses,  slushy  beds  of  mud,  infested  with  all 
abominable  reptiles,  or  a  jungle  where  the  lion  and  the  leop- 
ard have  their  dens.  Nothing  of  the  kind.  Unyamwezi  is  a 
different  kind  of  country  altogether  from  that.  To  know  the 
general  outline  and  physical  features  of  Unyamwezi,  you 
must  take  a  look  around  from  one  of  the  noble  coigns  of  van- 
tage offered  by  any  of  those  hills  of  syenite,  in  the  debatable 
ground  of  Mgunda  Makali,  in  Uyanzi. 

-  From  the  summit  of  one  of  those  natural  fortresses,  if  you 
look  west,  you  will  see  Unyamwezi  recede  into  the  far,  blue, 
mysterious  distance  in  a  succession  of  blue  waves  of  noble 
forest,  rising  and  subsiding  like  the  blue  waters  of  an  ocean. 
Such  a  view  of  Unyamwezi  is  inspiring;  and,  were  it  possi- 
ble for  you  to  wing  yourself  westward  on  to  another  vantage 
coign,  again  and  again  the  land  undulates  after  the  same  fash- 
ion, and  still  afar  off  is  the  same  azure,  mystic  horizon.  As  you 
approach  Unyanyembe  the  scene  is  slightly  changed.  Hills  of 
syenite  are  seen  dotting  the  vast  prospect,  like  islands  in  a  sea, 
presenting  in  their  external  appearance,  to  an  imaginative  eye, 
rude  imitations  of  castellated  fortresses  and  embattled  towers. 

A  nearer  view  of  these  hills  discloses  the  denuded  rock, 
disintegrated  masses  standing  on  end,  boulder  resting  upon 
boulder,  or  an  immense  towering  rock,  tinted  with  the 
sombre  color  age  paints  in  these  lands.  Around  these  rocky 
hills  stretch  the  cultivated  fields  of  the  Wanyamwezi — fields 
of  tall  maize,  of  holcus  sorghum,  of  millet,  of  vetches,  etc. — 
among  which  you  may  discern  the  patches  devoted  to  the  cul- 
tivation of  sweet  potatoes  and  manioc,  and  pasture  lands 
where  browse  the  hurnp-shouldered  cattle  of  Africa,  flocks  of 
goats  and  sheep.  This  is  the  scene  which  attracts  the  eye, 
and  is  accepted  as  promising  relief  after  the  wearisome  march- 
ing through  the  thorny  jungle  plains  of  Ugogo,  the  primeval 
forests  of  Uyanzi,  the  dim  plains  of  Tura  and  Kubuga,  and 
when  we  have  emerged  from  the  twilight  shades  of  Kigwa. 
!No  caravan  or  expedition  views  it  unwelcomed  by  song  and 
tumultuous  chorus,  for  rest  is  at  hand. 


422  A  FEVER-STRICKEN  COUNTRY. 

It  is  only  after  a  long  halt  that  one  begins  to  weary  of 
Unyanyembe,  the  principal  district  of  Unyamwezi.  It  is  only 
when  one  has  been  stricken  down  almost  to  the  grave,  by  the 
fatal,  chilly  winds  which  blow  from  the  heights  of  the  mount- 
ains of  Usagara,  that  one  begins  to  criticise  the  beauty  which 
at  first  captivated.  It  is  found,  then,  that  though  the  land  is 
fair  to  look  upon ;  that  though  we  rejoiced  at  the  sight  of  its 
grand  plains,  at  its  fertile  and  glowing  fields,  at  eight  of  the 
roving  herds,  which  promised  us  abundance  of  milk  and 
cream — that  it  is  one  of  the  most  deadly  countries  in  Africa ; 
that  its  fevers,  remittent  and  intermittent,  are  unequaled  in 
their  severity. 

Unyamwezi,  or  the  Land  of  the  Moon — from  U  (country), 
nya  (of  the),  mwezi  (moon) — extends  over  three  degrees  of 
latitude  in  length,  and  about  two  and  a  half  degrees  of  longi- 
tude in  breadth.  Its  principal  districts  are  Unyanyembe, 
Ugunda,  Ugara,  Tura,  Rubuga,  Kigwa,  Usagozi,  and  Uyoweh. 
Each  district  has  its  own  chief  prince,  king,  or  mtemi,  as  he 
is  called  in  Kinyamwezi.  Unyanyembe,  however,  is  the  prin- 
cipal district,  and  its  king,  Mkasiwa,  is  generally  considered 
to  be  the  most  important  person  in  Unyamwezi.  The  other 
kings  often  go  to  war  against  him,  and  Mkasiwa  often  gets 
the  worst  of  it ;  as,  for  instance,  in  the  present  war  between 
the  King  of  Uyoweh  (Mirambo),  and  Mkasiwa. 

All  this  vast  country  is  drained  by  two  rivers — the  North- 
ern and  Southern  Gombe,  which  empty  into  the  Malagarazi 
River,  and  thence  into  Lake  Tanganyika.  On  the  east, 
Unyamwezi  is  bounded  by  the  wilderness  of  Mgunda  Makali, 
and  Ukmibu,  on  the  south  by  Urori  and  Ukonongo,  on  the 
west  by  Ukawendi  and  Uvniza,  on  the  north  by  several  small 
coimtries  and  the  Ukereweh  Lake.  Were  one  to  ascend  by 
a  balloon,  and  scan  the  whole  of  Unyamwezi,  he  would  have 
a  view  of  one  great  forest,  broken  here  and  there  by  the  little 
clearings  around  the  villages,  especially  in  and  around 
Unyanyembe. 

The  forests  of  Southern  Unyamwezi  contain  a  large  variety 
of  game  and  wild  beasts.  In  these,  may  be  found  herds  of 


LIFE  IN  UNYANYEMBE.  423 

elephants,  buffaloes,  giraffes,  zebras,  elands,  hartbeests,  spring- 
boks, pallahs,  black  bucks,  and  a  score  of  other  kinds.  In 
the  neighborhood  of  the  Gombe  (Southern),  may  be  seen  any 
number  of  wild  boars  and  hogs,  lions  and  leopards.  The 
Gombe  itself  is  remarkable  for  the  number  of  hippopotami 
and  crocodiles  to  be  found  in  it. 

I  have  been  in  Unyanyembe  close  on  to  three  months  no\v. 
By  and  by  I  shall  tell  you  why ;  but  first  I  should  like  to 
give  you  a  glimpse  of  our  life  here.  The  Herald  Expedition 
has  its  quarters  in  a  large,  strong  house,  built  of  mud,  with 
walls  three  feet  thick.  It  is  of  one  story,  with  a  broad  mud 
veranda  in  front,  and  a  broad,  flat  roof.  The  great  door  18 
situated  directly  in  the  centre  of  the  front,  and  is  the  only 
one  possible  means  of  ingress  and  egress.  Entering  in  at  this 
door,  we  find  a  roomy  hall-way  ;  on  our  right  is  the  strong 
store-room,  where  the  goods  of  the  Herald  Expedition  and 
Livingstone's  caravan  are  kept  well  padlocked  up,  to  guard 
against  burglars. 

Soldiers  at  night  occupy  this  hall-way  with  loaded  guns, 
and  during  the  day,  there  are  always  two  men  on  guard, 
besides  Burton's  bull-headed  Mabrouki,  who  acts  as  my  porter 
or  policeman.  On  our  left  is  a  room  open  to  the  hallway,  on 
the  floor  of  which  are  spread  straw  mats,  and  two  or  three 
Persian  carpets,  where  the  Arab  sheikhs  squat,  when  they 
come  to  visit  me.  Passing  through  the  hallway,  we  come  to 
the  court  yard,  a  large  quadrangle,  fenced  in  and  built  around* 
with  houses.  There  are  about  a  dozen  pomegranite  trees 
planted  in  the  yard,  more  for  their  shade  than  for  their  fruit. 

The  houses  around  consist,  first,  of  the  grainery,  where-  we 
keep  the  rice,  the  matama,  the  Indian  corn,  the  sweet  pota»- 
toes,  etc. ;  next  comes  the  very  much  besmoked  kitchen,  a 
primitive  affair,  merely  a  few  stones  on  which  the  pots  are 
placed.  The  cook  and  his  youthful  subs  are  protected  from 
the  influences  of  the  weather  by  a  shed.  Next  to  the  kitchen 
is  the  stable,  where  the  few  remaining  animals  of  the  expedi- 
tion are  housed  at  night.  These  are  two  donkeys,  one  milch 
cow,  and  six  milch  goats.  The  cow  and  the  goats  furnish  me 
22 


424r  STANLEY'S  QUARTERS. 

with  milk  for  my  gruel,  my  puddings,  my  sauces,  and  my 
tea.  (I  was  obliged  to  attend  to  rny  comfort,  and  make  use 
of  the  best  Africa  offers.) 

Next  to  the  stable  is  another  large  shed,  which  serves  as 
barracks  for  the  soldiers.  Here  they  stow  themselves  and 
their  wives,  their  pots  and  beds,  and  find  it  pretty  comfortable. 
Next  to  this  is  the  house  of  the  white  man,  my  nautical  help, 
where  he  can  be  just  as  exclusive  as  he  likes,  has  his  own  bed- 
room, veranda,  bathroom,  etc. ;  his  tent  serves  him  for  a 
curtain,  and,  in  English  phrase,  he  has  often  declared  it  to  be 
•"jolly  and  no  mistake." 

Occupying  the  half  of  one  side  of  the  house  are  my  quar- 
ters, said  quarters  consisting  of  two  well-plastered  and  neat 
rooms.  My  table  is  an  ox-hide  stretched  over  a  wooden  frame. 
Two  portmanteaus,  one  on  top  of  the  other,  serve  for  a  chair. 
My  bedstead  is  only  a  duplicate  of  my  table,  over  which  I 
spread  my  bearskin  and  Persian  carpet. 

When  the  very  greatest  and  most  important  of  the  Arab 
sheikhs  visit  me,  Selim,  my  invaluable  adjunct,  is  always  told 
to  fetch  the  bearskin  and  Persian  carpet  from  the  bed. 
Recesses  in  the  solid  wall  answer  for  shelves  and  cupboards, 
where  I  deposit  my  cream-pots,  and  butter,  and  cheese  (which 
I  make  myself),  and  my  one  bottle  of  Worcestershire  sauce, 
and  my  tin  candlestick.  Behind  this  room,  which  is  the  bed, 
reception,  sitting,  drawing  room,  office  pantry,  etc.,  is  my 
bath-room,  where  are  my  saddle,  my  guns,  and  ammunition 
always  ready,  my  tools,  and  the  one  hundred  little  things 
which  an  expedition  into  the  country  must  have.  Adjoining 
my  quarters  is  the  jail  of  the  fortlet,  called  "  tembe  "  here — a 
small  room,  eight  by  six  feet,  lit  up  by  a  small  air  hole,  just 
large  enough  to  put  a  rifle  through — where  my  incorrigibles 
are  kept  for  forty  hours,  without  food,  in  solitary  confinement. 
This  solitary  confinement  answers  admirably,  about  as  well 
.as  being  chained  when  on  the  road,  and  much  better  than 
brutal  flogging. 

In  the  early  morning,  generally  about  half-past  five  or  six 
o'clock,  I  begin  to  stir  the  soldiers  up,  sometimes  with  a  long 


STANLEY,  HIS  BOi'  KALULU,  AND  INTERrRETEit  SKL1M. 


A  BLACK  MERCURY.  427 

bamboo,  for  you  know  they  are  such  hard  sleepers  they 
require  a  good  deal  of  poking.  Bombay  has  his  orders  given 
him,  and  Feragji,  the  cook,  who,  long  ago  warned  by  the 
noise  I  make  when  I  rouse  up,  is  told  in  unmistaken  tones, 
to  bring  "  chai "  (tea),  for  I  am  like  an  old  woman,  I  love  tea 
very  much,  and  can  take  a  quart  and  a  half  without  any  incon- 
venience. 

Kalulu,  a  boy  of  seven,  all  the  way  from  Cazembe's 
country,  is  my  waiter  and  chief  butler.  He  understands  my 
ways  and  mode  of  life  exactly.  Some  weeks  ago  he  ousted 
Selim  from  the  post  of  chief  butler,  by  sheer  diligence  and 
smartness.  Selim,  the  Arab  boy,  cannot  wait  at  table.  Kalulu 
—young  antelope — is  frisky.  I  have  but  to  express  a  wish, 
and  it  is  gratified.  He  is  a  perfect  Mercury,  though  a  mar- 
velously  black  one.  Tea  over,  Kalulu  clears  the  dishes,  and 
retires  under  the  kitchen  shed,  where,  if  I  have  a  curiosity  to 
know  what  he  is  doing,  he  may  be  seen  with  his  tongue  in 
the  tea-cup,  licking  up  the  sugar  that  was  left  in  it,  and  look- 
ing very  much  as  if  he  would  like  to  eat  the  cup  for  the  sake 
of  the  divine  element  it  has  so  often  contained. 

If  I  have  any  calls  to  make,  this  is  generally  the  hour ;  if 
there  are  none  to  make,  I  go  on  the  piazza  and  subside, 
quietly  on  my  bearskin  to  dream,  may  be,  of  that  far  oif  land 
I  call  my  own,  or  to  gaze  towards  Tabora,  the  Kaze  of  Burton 
and  Speke,  though  why  they  should  have  called  it  Kaze,  as 
yet  I  have  not  been  able  to  find  out,  (I  have  never  seen  the 
Arab  or  Msawabili  who  had  ever  heard  of  Kaze.  Said  bin 
Salim,  who  had  been  traveling  in  this  country  with  Burton, 
Speke  and  Grant,  declares  he  never  heard  of  it) ;  or  to  look 
towards  lofty  Zimbili  and  wonder  why  the  Arabs,  at  such  a 
crisis  as  the  present,  do  not  remove  their  goods  and  chattels 
to  the  summit  of  that  natural  fortress.  But  dreaming  and 
wondering,  and  thinking  and  marveling,  are  too  hard  for  me ; 
this  constitution  of  mine  is  not  able  to  stand  it ;  so  I  make 
some  ethnological  notes,  and  polish  up  a  little  my  geographi- 
cal knowledge  of  Central  Africa. 

I  have  to  greet  about  four  hundred  and  ninety-nine  people 


428  VISITING  THE  ARABS. 

of  all  sorts,  with  the  salutation  "  Yambo."  This  "  Yambo  " 
is  a  great  word.  It  may  mean  "  How  do  you  do  ?"  "  How 
are  you  ?"  "  Thy  health  ?"  The  answer  to  it  is  "  Yambo !" 
or  "  Yambo  Sana !"  ("  How  are  you ;  quite  well  ?")  The 
Kinyamwezi — the  language  of  the  "Wanyamwezi — of  it  is 
"  Moholo,"  and  the  answer  is  "  Moholo."  The  Arabs,  when 
they  call,  if  they  do  not  give  the  Arabic  "  Spal-kher,"  give 
you  the  greeting  "  Yambo ;"  and  I  have  to  say  "  Yambo." 
And,  in  order  to  show  my  gratitude  to  them,  I  emphasize  it 
with  "  Yambo  Sana !  Sana !  Sana  ?"  ("  Are  you  well  ?  Quite 
well,  quite,  quite  well  ?")  And  if  they  repeat  the  words  I 
am  more  than  doubly  grateful,  and  invite  them  to  a  seat  on 
the  bearskin 

This  bear-skin  of  mine  is  the  evidence  of  my  respectability, 
and  if  we  are  short  of  common-place  topics,  we  invariably 
refer  to  the  bear-skin,  where  there  is' room  for  much  discus- 
sion. If  I  go  to  visit  the  Arabs,  as  I  sometimes  do,  I  find 
their  best  Persian  carpets,  their  silk  counterpanes  and  kitandas 
gorgeously  decorated  in  my  honor.  One  of  the  principal 
Arabs  here  is  famous  for  this  kind  of  honor-doing.  Isb 
sooner  did  I  show  my  face  than  I  heard  the  order  given  to  a 
slave  to  produce  the  kitanda,  that  the  Muzungu — white  man 
— might  lie  thereon,  and  that  the  populous  village  of  Maroro 
might  behold.  The  silk  counterpane  was  spread  over  a  cot- 
ton-stuffed bed ;  the  enormously  fat  pillows,  covered  with  a 
van-colored  stuff,  invited  the  weary  head  ;  the  rich  carpet  of 
Ajim  spread  alongside  of  the  kitanda  was  a  great  temptation, 
but  I  was  not  to  be  tempted ;  I  could  not  afford  to  be  so 
effeminate  as  to  lie  down  while  four  hundred  or  five  hundred 
looked  on  to  see  how  I  went  through  the  operation. 

Having  disposed  of  my  usual  number  of  "  Yambos "  for 
the  morning,  I  begin  to  feel  "  peckish,"  as  the  sea  skipper 
says,  and  Feragji,  the  cook,  and  youthful  Kalulu,  the  chief 
butler,  are  again  called  and  told  to  bring  "  chukula  " — food. 
This  is  the  breakfast  put  down  on  the  table  at  the  hour  of  ten 
punctually  every  morning : — Tea,  (ugali,  a  native  porridge 
made  out  of  the  flour  of  dourra,  holcus  sorghum  or  matama. 


BREAKFAST,  AND  AFTERWARD.  429 

as  it  is  called  here  ;  a  dish  of  rice  and  curry.  Unyanyembe 
is  famous  for  its  rice,  fried  goat's  meat,  stewed  goat's  meat, 
roast  goat's  meat,  a  dish  of  sweet  potatoes,  a  few  "  slapjacks  " 
or  specimens  of  the  abortive  efforts  of  Feragji  to  make 
dampers  or  pancakes,  to  be  eaten  with  honey.  But  neither 
Feragji's  culinary  skill  nor  Kalulu's  readiness  to  wait  on  me 
can  tempt  me  to  eat.  I  have  long  ago  eschewed  food,  and 
only  drink  tea,  milk  and  yaourt — Turkish  word  for  "clabber" 
or  clotted  milk.  Plenty  of  time  to  eat  goat  meat  when  we 
shall  be  on  the  march ;  but  just  now — no,  thank  you. 

After  breakfast  the  soldiers  are  called,  and  together  we 
begin  to  pack  the  bales  of  cloth,  string  beads  and  apportion 
the  several  loads,  which  the  escort  must  carry  to  Ujiji  some 
way  or  another.  Carriers  come  to  test  the  weigjit  of  the  loads, 
and  to  inquire  about  the  inducements  offered  by  the 
"  Muzungu."  The  inducements  are  in  the  shape  of  so  many 
pieces  of  cloth,  four  yards  long,  and  I  offer  double  what  any 
Arab  ever  ofiered.  Some  are  engaged  at  once,  others  say 
they  will  call  again,  but  they  never  do,  and  it  is  of  no  use  to 
expect  them  when  there  is  war,  for  they  are  the  cowardliest 
people  under  the  sun. 

Since  we  are  going  to  make  forced  marches,  I  must  not 
overload  my  armed  escort,  or  we  shall  be  in  a  pretty  mess 
two  or  three  days  after  we  start ;  so  I  am  obliged  to  reduce 
all  loads  by  twenty  pounds,  to  examine  my  kit  and  personal 
baggage  carefully,  and  put  aside  anything  that  is  not  actually 
and  pressingly  needed.  As  I  examine  my  fine  lot  of  cooking 
utensils,  and  consider  the  fearfully  long  distance  to  Ujiji,  I 
begin  to  see  that  most  of  them  are  superfluous,  and  I  vow 
that  one  saucepan  and  kettle  for  tea  shall  suffice.  I  must 
leave  half  my  bed  and  half  my  clothes  behind  ;  all  my  per- 
sonal baggage  is  not  to  weigh  over  sixty-four  pounds.  Then 
there  are  the  ammunition  boxes  to  be  looked  to. 

Ah,  me !  When  I  started  from  the  coast  I  remember  how 
ardently  I  pursued  the  game  ;  how  I  dived  into  the  tall,  wet 
grass ;  how  I  lost  myself  in  the  jungles ;  how  I  trudged  over 
the  open  plains,  in  search  of  vert  and  venison.  And  what 


430  A  TALK   WITH  MR.  SHAW. 

did  it  all  amount  to  ?  Killing  a  few  inoffensive  animals,  the 
meat  of  which  was  not  worth  the  trouble.  And  shall  I  waste 
my  strength  and  energies  in  chasing  game  ?  No,  and  the  man 

who  would  do  so  at  such  a  crisis  as  the  present  is  a .  But 

I  have  my  private  opinion  of  him,  and  I  know  whereof  I 
speak.  Very  well ;  all  the  ammunition  is  to  be  left  behind 
except  one  hundred  rounds  to  each  man.  No  one  must  fire 
a  shot  without  permission,  nor  waste  his  ammunition  in  any 
way,  under  penalty  of  a  heavy  fine  for  every  charge  of  pow- 
der wasted.  These  things  require  time  and  thought,  for  the 
Herald  Expedition  has  a  long  and  far  journey  to  make.  It 
intends  to  take  a  new  road — a  road  with  which  few  Arabs  are 
acquainted — despite  all  that  Skeikh,  the  son  of  Nasib,  can  say 
against  the  project. 

It  is  now  the  dinner  hour,  seven  P.  M. ;  Feragji  has  spread 
himself  out,  as  they  say.  He  has  all  sorts  of  little  fixings 
ready,  such  as  indigestible  dampers,  the  everlasting  ngali,  or 
porridge,  the  sweet  potatoes,  chicken  and  roast  quarter  of  a 
goat ;  and  lastly,  a  custard,  or  something  just  as  good,  made 
out  of  plantains. 

At  eight  P.  M.  the  table  is  cleared,  the  candles  are  lit,  pipes 
are  brought  out,  and  Shaw,  my  white  man,  is  invited  to  talk. 
'But  poor  Shaw  is  sick  and  has  not  a  grain  of  spirit  or  energy 
left  in  him.  All  I  can  do  or  say  does  not  cheer  him  up  in 
the  least.  He  hangs  down  his  head,  and  with  many  a  sigh 
declares  his  inability  to  proceed  with  me  to  Ujiji. 

"  Not  if  jon  have  a  donkey  to  ride  ?"  I  ask. 

"  Perhaps  in  that  way  I  may  be  able,"  says  Shaw  in  a  most 
melancholy  tone. 

"  Well,  my  dear  Shaw,"  I  begin,"  you  shall  have  a  donkey 
to  ride  and  you  shall  have  all  the  attendance  you  require.  I 
;believe  you  are  sick,  but  what  this  sickness  of  yours  is  I  can- 
not make  out.  It  is  not  fever,  for  I  could  have  cured  you  by 
'this,  as  I  have  cured  myself  and  as  I  have  cured  Selim ; 
•besides,  this  fever  is  a  contemptible  disease,  though  danger- 
ous sometimes.  I  think  if  you  were  to  exert  your  will — and 
-gay  you  will  go,  say  you  will  live — there  would  be  less  chance 


HIS  IMPENDING  FATE.  431 

of  your  being  unable  to  reach  the  coast  again.  To  be  left 
behind,  ignorant  of  how  much  medicine  to  take  or  when  to 
take  it,  is  to  die.  Remember  my  words — if  you  stop  behind 
in  Unyanyembe,  I  fear  for  you.  Why,  how  can  you  pass  the 
many  months  that  must  elapse  before  I  can  return  to  Unyan- 
yembe ?  No  man  knows  where  Livingstone  is.  He  may  be 
at  Ujiji,  he  may  be  in  Manyema,  he  may  be  going  down  the 
Congo  River  for  the  West  Coast,  and  if  I  go  down  the  Congo 
River  after  him  I  cannot  return  to  Unyanyembe;  and  in  that 
event  where  would  you  be  ?" 

"  It  is  very  true,  Mr.  Stanley.  I  shall  go  with  you,  but  I 
feel  very  bad  here  (and  he  put  his  hand  over  his  liver) ;  but, 
as  you  say,  it  is  a  great  deal  better  to  go  on,  than  stop 
behind." 

But  the  truth  is,  that  like  many  others  starting  from  the 
coast  with  superabundant  health,  Shaw,  soon  after  realizing 
what  travel  in  Africa  was,  lost  courage  and  heart.  The  ever- 
present  danger  from  the  natives  and  the  monotony  of  the 
country,  the  fatigue  one  endures  from  the  constant  marches 
which  every  day  take  you  further  into  the  uninteresting 
country,  all  these  combined  had  their  effect  on  him,  and  when 
he  arrived  in  Uuyanyembe,  he  was  laid  up.  Then  his  inter- 
course with  the  females  of  Unyanyembe  put  the  last  finishing 
touch  to  his  enfeebled  frame,  and  I  fear  if  the  medicines  I  have 
sent  for  do  not  arrive  in  time  that  he  will  die.  It  is  a  sad  fate. 

Yet  I  feel  sure  that  in  another  expedition,  fitted  out 
with  all  the  care  that  the  Herald  Expedition  was,  regard- 
less of  expense,  if  the  members  composing  it  are  actuated  by 
no  higher  motives  than  to  get  shooting,  or  to  indulge  their 
lust,  it  would  meet  with  the  same  fate  which  has  overtaken 
my  white  man  Farquhar,  and  which  seems  likely  will  over- 
take Shaw.  If  on  the  day  I  depart  from  here,  this  man  is 
unwilling  or  unable  to  accompany  me)  I  shall  leave  him  here 
under  charge  of  two  of  my  soldiers,  with  everything  that  can 
tend  to  promote  his  comfort. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 
PERPLEXITIES  AND  RESOLVES. 

WHEN  Mr.  Stanley  was  at  Zanzibar,  he  of  course  formed 
the  acquaintance  of  Dr.  John  Kirk,  the  English  Con- 
sul at  that  port.  Dr.  Kirk  had  traveled  extensively  with  Dr. 
Livingstone,  and  they  had  always  been  on  the  most  friendly 
terms.  This  fact,  as  well  as  his  official  position  which  ren- 
dered it  his  dirty,  should  have  made  him  zealous  in  seeing 
that  supplies  for  Livingstone  were  entrusted  to  reliable  par- 
ties, and  forwarded  from  Zanzibar  with  promptness. 

In  several  of  Dr.  Livingstone's  letters  he  censures,  or 
Seems  to  censure  Dr.  Kirk  for  neglect  or  inefficiency  in 
attending  to  his  wants.  In  a  recent  communication  to  Sir 
Bartle  Frere,  Dr.  Livingstone  expresses  regret  at  learning 
that  Dr.  Kirk  viewed  his  "formal  complaint  against  Ban- 
ians as  a  covert  attack  upon  himself ;"  and  says  further,  that 
if  he  could  have  foreseen  this,  he  should  have  borne  all  his 
losses  in  silence,  and  that  he  had  no  intention  of  giving  Dr. 
Kirk  offence.  This  letter  shows  great  magnanimity  on  the 
part  of  Dr.  Livingstone. 

In  a  communication  to  the  New  York  Herald,  which  is 
given  below,  Mr.  Stanley  tells  what  he  knows  about  the  mat- 
ter. It  is  probable  that  this  letter  occasioned  much  of  the 
ill-feeling  toward  him  which  was  manifested  when  he  first 
reached  England,  as  Dr.  Kirk  has  very  many  warm  friends 
there. 

Mr.  Stanley  also  describes  some  of  the  discouraging  cir- 
cumstances attending  his  search  for  Livingstone,  which  the 

432 


STANLEY  ADVISED  TO  GO  BACK.  433 

Expedition  encountered  while  it  was  detained  at  Unyany einbe. 

KWIHARA,  UNYANYEMBE,  Sept.  21,  1871. 

How  can  I  describe  my  feeling  to  you,  that  you  may  com- 
prehend exactly  the  condition  that  I  am  in,  the  condition 
that  I  have  been  in,  and  the  extremely  wretched  condition 
that  the  Arabs  and  slave  trading  people  of  the  Mrima — the 
hill  land  or  the  coast — would  fain  keep  me  in  ?  For  the  last 
two  months  I  have  been  debating  in  my  own  mind  as  to  my 
best  course.  Resolves  have  not  been  wanting,  but  up  to  to- 
day they  have  failed.  I  am  no  nearer  the  object  of  my 
search  apparently  than  I  was  two  years  ago,  when  you  gave 
me  the  instructions  at  the  hotel  in  Paris,  called  the  "  Grand 
Hotel." 

This  object  of  my  search  you  know  is  Livingstone — Dr. 
David  Livingstone — F.  R.  G.  S.,  LL.  D.,  etc.  Is  this  Dr. 
David  Livingstone  a  myth  ?  Is  there  any  such  person  liv- 
ing ?  If  so  where  is  he  ?  I  ask  everybody — Omani,  Arab- 
half-caste,  "Wamruia-pagazis — but  no  man  knows.  I  lift  up 
my  head,  shake  off  day  dreams  and  ask  the  silent  plains 
around  and  the  still  dome  of  azure  upheaving  to  infinity 
above,  where  can  he  be  ?  No  answer.  The  attitude  of  my 
people,  the  asinine  obstinacy  of  Bombay,  the  evidently  deter- 
mined opposition  of  the  principal  Arabs  to  my  departure 
from  here,  the  war  with  Mirambo,  the  other  unknown  road 
to  Central  Lake,  the  impossibility  of  obtaining  pagazis,  all 
combine,  or  seem  to,  to  say  : — "  Thou  shalt  never  find  him. 
Thou  shalt  neither  hear  of  him.  Thou  shalt  die  here." 

Sheikh,  the  son  of  Nasib,  one  of  the  ruling  powers  here, 
declares  it  an  impossibility  to  reach  Ujiji.  Daily  he  vexes 
me  with, 

"  There  is  no  road ;  all  roads  are  closed ;  the  "Wakonongo, 
the  Wagara  and  "Wawendi  are  coming  from  the  south  to  help 
Mirambo  ;  if  you  go  to  the  north,  Usukuma  is  the  country 
of  Mirambo's  mother;  if  you  take  the  Wildjankuru  road, 
that  is  Mirambo's  own  country.  You  see,  then,  sir,  the 
impossibility  of  reaching  the  Tanganyika.  My  advice  is  that 


4:34  RESOLVE  TO  GO  ON 

you  wait  until  Mirambo  is  killed,  then,  Inliallali  (please  God), 
the  road  will  be  open,  or  go  back." 

And  oftentimes  i  explode,  and  cry  out : — 

"What!  wait  here  until  Mirambo  is  killed?  You  were 
five  years  fighting  Maima  Sora !  Go  back !  after  spending 
twenty  thousand  dollars!  O  Sheikh,  the  son  of  Nasib,  no 
Arab  can  fathom  the  soul  of  a  muzungu  (white  man)  !  I  go 
on,  and  will  not  wait  until  you  kill  Mirambo.  I  go  on,  and 
will  not  go  back  until  I  shall  have  seen  the  Tanganyika',"  and 
this  morning  I  added,  "  and  day  after  to-morrow  I  start." 

"Well,  master,"  he  replied,  "be  it  as  you  say;  but  put 
down  the  words  of  Sheikh,  the  son  of  Nasib,  for  they  are 
worthy  to  be  remembered." 

He  has  only  just  parted  from  me,  and  to  comfort  myself 
after  the  ominous  words,  I  write  to  you.  I  wish  I  could 
write  as  fast  as  the  thoughts  crowd  my  mind.  Then  what  a 
wild,  chaotic  and  incoherent  letter  you  would  have !  But 
my  pen  is  stiff,  the  paper  is  abominable,  and  before  a  sentence 
is  framed  the  troubled  mind  gets  somewhat  calmer.  I  am 
spiteful,  I  candidly  confess,  just  now ;  I  am  cynical — I  do  not 
care  who  knows  it.  Fever  has  just  made  me  so.  My  whin- 
ing white  servant  contributes  toward  it.  The  stubbornness 
of  Bombay — "incarnation  of  honesty"  Burton  calls  him — 
is  enough  to  make  one  cynical.  The  false  tongues  of  these 
false-hearted  Arabs  drive  me  on  to  spitefulness ;  the  coward- 
ice of  my  soldiers  is  a  proverb  with  me.  The  rock  daily, 
hourly  growing  larger  and  more  formidable  against  which 
the  ship  of  the  expedition  must  split — so  says  everybody, 
and  what  everybody  says  must  be  true — makes  me  fierce  and 
savage-hearted.  Yet  I  say,  that  the  day  after  to-morrow  * 
every  man  Jack  of  us  who  can  walk  shall  march. 

But  before  the  expedition  tries  the  hard  road  again — before 
it  commences  the  weary,  weary  march  once  more — can  I  not 
gain  some  information  about  Livingstone  from  the  scraps  of 
newspapers  I  have  been  industriously  clipping  for  some  time 
back  ?  May  they  not,  with  the  more  mature  knowledge  I  have 
obtained  of  the  interior  since  I  went  on  this  venture,  give  me 


IGNORANCE  IN  HIGH  PLACES.  435 

a  hint  which  I  might  advantageously  adopt  ?  Here  they  are, 
a  dozen  of  them,  fifteen,  twenty,  over  thirty  bits  of  paper. 
Here  is  one.  Ah,  dolor  of  heart,  where  art  thou?  This 
mirth-provoking  bit  of  newspaper  is  almost  a  physician  to  me. 
I  read : — 

ZANZIBAR  Feb.  6,  1870, 

u  I  am  also  told  by  Ludha  Dam jee,  that  a  large  caravan, 
laden  with  ivory,  and  coming  from  Nayamweze,  has  com- 
pletely perished  from  this  disease  in  Ujiji." 

To  you  who  stay  at  home  in  America,  may  be  accorded 
forgiveness  if  you  do  not  quite  understand  where  "  Nayam- 
weze"  or  "Ujiji"  is;  but  to  the  British  politico  and  Her 
Britannic  Majesty's  Consul,  Dr.  John  Kirk,  a  former  com- 
panion of  Livingstone,  a  man  of  science,  a  member  of  the 
Royal  Geographical  Society,  and  one  who  is  said  to  be  in 
constant  communication  with  Livingstone,  forgiveness  for 
such  gross  ignorance  is  impossible.  A  parallel  case  of  igno- 
rance would  be  in  a  New  York  editor  writing, 

"  I  am  also  told  by  Mr.  So  and  So,  that  a  large  wagon  train, 
bringing  silver  bricks  from  Montana,  has  perished  in  Alaska." 

Ujiji,  you  must  remember,  is  about  a  month's  march  west- 
ward of  Unyamwezi — not  "  Nayamweze  " — and  to  me  it  is 
inconceivable  how  a  person  in  the  habit  of  writing  weekly  to 
his  government  about  Livingstone,  should  have  conceived 
Ujiji  to  be  somewhere  between  the  coast  and  "  Nayamweze." 
as  he  calls  it.  But  then  I  am  spiteful  this  morning  of  Sep- 
tember 21st,  and  there  is  nothing  lovable  under  the  sun  at 
this  present  time  except  the  memory  of  my  poor  little  dog 
"  Omar,"  who  fell  a  victim  to  the  Makata  Swamp.  Poor 
Omarl 

Amid  these  many  scraps  or  clippings  all  about  Livingstone, 
there  are  many  more  which  contain  as  ludicrous  mistakes, 
mostly  all  of  them  having  emanated  from  the  same  scientific 
pen  as  the  above.  I  find  one  wherein  Sir  R.  Murchison. 
President  of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society,  stoutly  main- 
tains that  Livingstone's  tenacity  of  purpose,  undying  resolu- 
tion, and  herculean  frame  will  overcome  every  obstacle. 


•436  HOPEFUL  SIR  RODERICK. 

Through  several  scraps  runs  a  vein  of  doubt  and  unbelief  in 
the  existence  of  the  explorer.  The  writers  seem  to  incline 
that  he  has  at  last  succumbed.  But  to  the  very  latest  date 
Sir  Roderick  rides  triumphant  over  all  doubts  and  fears.  At 
the  very  nick  of  time  he  has  always  a  letter  from  Livingstone 
himself,  or  a  despatch  from  Livingstone  to  Lord  Clarendon, 
or  a  private  note  from  Dr.  Livingstone  to  his  friend  Kirk  at 
Zanzibar.  Happy  Sir  Eoderick!  Good,  Sir  Roderick!  a 
healthy,  soul-inspiring  faith  is  thine. 

Well,  I  am,  to  tell  you  the  outspoken  truth,  tormented  by 
the  same  doubts  and  fears  that  people  in  America  and  Eng- 
land are — to-day  uncommonly  so.  I  blame  the  fever.  Yet, 
though  I  have  heard  nothing  that  would  lead  me  to  believe 
Livingstone  is  alive,  I  derive  much  comfort  from  reading 
Sir  Roderick's  speech  to  the  society  of  which  he  is  President. 

But  though  he  has  tenacity  of  purpose  and  is  the  most 
resolute  of  travelers,  he  is  but  a  man,  who,  if  alive,  is  old  in 
years.  I  have  but  to  send  for  Said  bin  Habib,  who 
claims  to  be  the  Doctor's  best  friend,  and  who  lives  but  a  rifle 
shot  from  the  camp  of  the  Herald  and  Livingstone  expedi- 
tions, and  he  will  tell  me  how  he  found  him  so  sick  with 
fever  that  it  seemed  as  if  the  tired  spirit  was  about  to  take 
its  eternal  rest.  I  have  but  to  ask  Suliman  Dowa,  or  Thomas, 
how  he  found  "  old  Daoud  Fellasteen  " — David  Livingstone 
— and  he  will  tell  me  he  saw  a  very  old  man,  with  very  gray 
beard  and  mustache,  who  ought  to  be  home  now  instead  of 
wandering  among  those  wild  cannibals  of  Manyema. 

What  made  me  to-day  give  way  to  fears  for  Livingstone's 
life,  was  that  a  letter  had  reached  Unyanyembe,  from  a  man 
called  Shereef,  who  is  in  charge  of  Livingstone's  goods  at 
Ujiji,  wherein  he  asked  permission  from  Said  bin  Salim,  the 
Governor  here,  to  sell  Livingstone's  goods  for  ivory ;  wherein 
he  states  further,  that  Shereef  had  sent  his  slaves  to  Manyema 
to  look  for  the  white  man,  and  that  these  slaves  had  returned 
without  hearing  any  news  from  him.  He  (Shereef),  was 
therefore  tired  of  waiting,  and  it  would  be  much  better  if  he 
were  to  receive  orders  to  dispose  of  the  white  man's  cloth 
and  beads  for  ivory. 


STOREROOMS  OF  THE  EXPEDITION.  437 

It  is  strange  that  these  goods,  which  were  sent  to  TJjiji 
over  a  year  ago,  have  not  yet  been  touched,  and  the  fact  that 
Livingstone  has  not  been  in  Ujiji  to  receive  his  last  year's 
supplies  puzzles  also  Said  bin  Salim,  Governor  of  Unyan- 
yembe,  or  rather,  of  Tabora  and  Kwihara,  as  well  as  it  puz- 
zles Sheikh,  son  of  Nasib,  accredited  Consul  of  Syed 
Burghash,  Sultan  of  Zanzibar  and  Pemba  at  the  Courts  of 
Rumanika  and  Mtesa,  Kings  respectively  of  Karagwah  and 
Uganda. 

In  the  storeroom  where  the  cumbersome  moneys  of  the 
New  York  Herald  Expedition  lie  piled  up,  bale  upon  bale, 
sack  after  sack,  coil  after  coil,  and  the  two  boats,  are  this 
year's  supplies  sent  by  Dr.  Kirk  to  Dr.  Livingstone — seven- 
teen bales  of  cloth,  twelve  boxes  of  wine,  provisions,  and 
little  luxuries  such  as  tea  and  coffee.  When  I  came  up  with 
my  last  caravan  to  .Unyanyembe,  I  found  Livingstone's  had 
arrived  but  four  weeks  before,  or  about  May  23d  last,  and  had 
put  itself  under  charge  of  a  half-caste  called  Thani  Kati-Kati, 
or  Thani,  "  in  the  middle,"  or  "  between."  Before  he  could 
get  carriers  he  died  of  dysentery.  He  was  succeeded  in 
charge  by  a  man  from  Johanna,  who,  in  something  like  a 
week  died  of  smallpox;  then  Mirambo's  war  broke  out,  and 
here  we  all  are,  September  21st,  both  expeditions  halted. 
But  not  for  long,  let  us  hope,  for  the  third  time  I  will  make 
a  start  the  day  after  to-morrow. 

To  the  statement  that  the  man  Shereef  makes,  that  he  has 
sent  slaves  to  Manyema  to  search  for  Dr.  Livingstone,  I  pay 
not  the  slightest  attention.  Shereef,  I  am  told,  is  a  half-caste. 
Half  Arab,  half-negro.  Happy  amalgamation !  All  Arabs 
and  all  half-castes,  especially  when  it  is  in  their  interest  to 
lie,  lie  without  stint.  "What  and  who  is  this  man  Shereef, 
that  he  should,  unasked,  send  his  slaves  twenty  days  off  to 
search  for  a  white  man  ?  It  was  not  for  his  interest  to  send 
out  men,  but  it  was  policy  to  say  he  had  done  so,  and  that 
his  slaves  had  returned  without  hearing  of  him.  He  is, 
therefore,  in  a  hurry  to  sell  off  and  make  money  at  the 
expense  of  Livingstone. 


4:38  ARRAIGNMENT  OF  DR.  KIRK. 

This  man  has  treated  the  old  traveler  shamefully — like 
some  other  men  I  know  of,  who,  if  I  live,  will  be  exposed 
through  your  columns.  But  why  should  I  not  do  so  now  ? 
What  better  time  is  there  than  the  present  ?  "Well,  here  it 
js — coolly,  calmly,  and  deliberately.  I  have  studied  the 
whole  thing  since  I  came  here,  and  cannot  do  better  than 
give  you  the  result  of  the  searching  inquiries  instituted. 

It  is  the  case  of  the  British  Public  vs.  Dr.  John  Kirk, 
Acting  Political  Agent  and  her  Britannic  Majesty's  Consul 
at  Zanzibar,  as  I  understand  it.  The  case  is  briefly  this : — 
Some  time  in  October,  1870,  Henry  Adrian  Churchill,  Esq., 
was  Her  Britannic  Majesty's  Consul  at  Zanzibar.  He  fitted 
out  during  that  month  a  small  expedition  to  carry  supplies 
to  Dr.  Livingstone,  under  the  escort  of  seven  or  eight  men, 
who  were  to  act  as  armed  soldiers,  porters  or  servants.  They 
arrived  at  Bagamoyo,  on  the  the  mainland,  during  the  latter 
part  of  October.  About  the  latter  part  of  October,  or  the 
early  part  of  November,  Mr.  Churchill  left  Zanzibar  for 
England,  and  Dr.  John  Kirk,  the  present  occupant  of  the 
consular  chair,  succeeded  him  as  "  acting  "  in  the  capacity  Mr. 
Churchill  heretofore  had  done.  A  letter  bag,  containing 
letters  to  Dr.  Livingstone,  was  sealed  up  by  Dr.  John  Kirk 
at  Zanzibar,  on  which  was  written  "  November  1,  1870 — 
Registered  letters  for  Dr.  David  Livingstone,  Ujiji ;"  from 
which  it  appears  that  the  letter  bag  was  closed  on  the  1st  of 
November,  1870. 

On  the  6th  of  January,  1871,  your  correspondent  arrived 
at  Zanzibar,  and  then  and  there  heard  of  a  caravan 
being  at  Bagamoyo,  bound  for  the  interior  with  supplies  for 
Dr.  Livingstone.  On  the  4th  of  February,  1871,  your  corre- 
spondent in  charge  of  the  Herald  Expedition,  arrived  at 
Bagamoyo,  and  found  this  caravan  of  Dr.  Livingstone's  still 
at  Bagamoyo. 

On  or  about  the  18th  of  February,  1871,  there  appeared, 
off  Bagamoyo,  Her  Britannic  Majesty's  gunboat  Colum- 
bine, Captain  Tucker,  having  on  board  Dr.  John  Kirk, 
acting  Her  Britannic  Majesty's  Consul.  Three  days  before 


GIRAFFES  IN  PITFALL. 


SHOOTING  HARTBEESTS. 

Dr.  John  Kirk  arrived  at  Bagamoyo,  Livingstone's  caravan 
started  for  the  interior,  hurried,  no  doubt,  by  the  report  that 
the  English  Consul  was  coming.  That  evening  about  the 
hour  of  seven  P.  M.  your  correspondent  dined  at  the  French 
Mission  in  company  with  the  jperes,  Dr.  Kirk  and  Captain 
Tucker  of  the  Columbine.  The  next  morning  Dr.  Kirk  and 
Captain  Tucker  and  another  gentleman  from  the  Columbine, 
and  Pere  Homer,  Superior  of  the  French  mission,  left  for 
Kikoka,  first  camp  on  the  Unyanyembe  road  beyond  the 
Kuigani  River ;  or,  in  other  words,  the  second  camp  for.  the 
up  caravans  from  Bagamoyo.  Pere  Homer  returned  to 
Bagamoyo  the  evening  of  that  same  day ;  but  Messrs.  Kirk 
and  Tucker,  the  French  Consul,  M.  Diviane,  and,  I  believe, 
the  surgeon  of  the  Columbine,  remained  behind  that  they 
might  enjoy  the  sport  which  the  left  bank  of  the  Knigani 
offered  them. 

A  good  deal  of  ammunition  was  wasted,  I  heard,  by  the 
naval  officers,  because,  "You  know,  they  have  only  pea  rifles ;" 
so  said  Dr.  Kirk  to  me.  But  Dr.  Kirk,  the  companion  of 
Livingstone  and  something  of  a  sportsman,  I  am  told,  bagged 
one  hartbeest  and  one  giraffe  only  in  the  four  or  five  days  the 
party  was  out.  M.  Diviane,  or  Divien,  hurried  back  to  Bag- 
amoyo and  Zanzibar  with  a  piece  of  the  aforesaid  hartbeest, 
that  the  white  people  on  that  island  might  enjoy  the  sight, 
and  hear  how  the  wondrous  animal  fell  before  the  unerring 
rifle  of  that  learned  showman  of  wild  beasts,  Dr.  John  Kirk. 
Showman  of  wild  beasts  did  I  say  ?  Yes.  "Well,  I  adhere  to 
it  and  repeat  it.  But  to  proceed.  At  the  end  of  a  week  or 
thereabouts  the  party  were  said  to  have  arrived  at  the  French 
Mission  again.  I  rode  up  from  the  camp  of  the  Herald  Expe- 
dition to  see  them.  They  were  sitting  down  to  dinner,  and 
we  all  heard  the  graphic  yarn  about  the  death  of  the  hart- 
beest. It  was  a  fine  animal  they  all  agreed 

"  But,  Doctor,  did  you  not  have  something  else  ?"  (Question 
by  leader  of  Herald  Expedition.) 

u  No !  we  saw  lots  of  game,  you  know — giraffe,  zebra,  wild 
boar,  &c. — but  they  were  made  so  wild,  you  know,  by  the 


442  ABOUT  THE  LIVINGSTONE  CARAVAN. 

firing  of  pea  rifles  by  the  officers,  that  immediately  one 
began  to  stalk  them,  off  they  went.  I  would  not  have  got 
the  hartbeest  if  I  had  not  gone  alone." 

Well,  next  morning  Dr.  Kirk  and  a  reverend  padre  came 
to  visit  the  camp  of  the  Herald  Expedition,  partook  of  a  cup 
of  tea  in  my  tent,  then  went  to  see  Moussoud  about  Dr.  Liv- 
ingstone's things.  They  were  told  that  the  caravan  had  gone 
several  days  before.  Satisfied  that  nothing  more  could  be 
done,  after  a  dejeuner  at  the  French  Mission,  Dr.  Kirk  about 
eleven  A.  M.  went  on  board  the  Columbine.  About  half-past 
three  P.  M.  the  Columbine  steamed  for  Zanzibar. 

On  the  15th  of  March  your  correspondent  returned  to  Zan- 
zibar, to  settle  up  the  last  accounts  connected  with  the  expe- 
dition. While  at  Zanzibar  your  correspondent  heard  that 
the  report  had  industriously  been  spread  among  those  inter- 
ested in  Livingstone,  the  traveler,  that  Dr.  Kirk  had  hurried 
off  the  Livingstone  caravan  at  once,  and  that  he  had  accom- 
panied the  said  caravan  beyond  the  Knigani,  and  that  your 
correspondent  could  not  possibly  get  any  pagazis  whatever, 
as  he  (Dr.  Kirk)  had  secured  them  all.  I  wondered,  but  said 
nothing.  Really,  the  whole  were  marvelous  were  it  not 
opposed  to  fact.  Livingstone's  caravan  needed  but  thirty- 
three  men ;  the  Herald  Expedition  required  one  hundred  and 
forty  men,  all  told.  Before  the  Livingstone  caravan  had 
started,  the  first  caravan  of  the  Herald  Expedition  had  pre- 
ceded them  by  four  days.  By  the  15th  of  March,  one  hun- 
dred and  eleven  men  were  secured  for  the  Herald  Expedition, 
and  for  the  remainder,  donkeys  were  substituted. 

June  saw  us  at  Unyanyembe,  and  there  I  heard  the  reports 
of  the  chiefs  of  the  several  caravans  of  the  Herald  Expedition. 
Livingstone's  caravan  was  also  there,  and  the  men  in  charge 
were  interrogated  by  me  with  the  following  questions : — 

Q.  "  When  did  you  see  Dr.  Kirk  last  ?" 

A.  "  1st  of  November,  1870." 

Q.  "Where?" 

A.  "  At  Zanzibar." 

Q.  "  Did  you  not  see  him  at  Bagamoyo  ?" 


THE  SUMMING  UP.  44.3 

A.  "  No ;  but  we  heard  that  he  had  been  at  Bagamoyo." 

Q.  "  Is  this  true ;  quite,  quite  true  ?" 

A."  Quite  true,  Wallah  "  (by  God). 

The  story  is  told.  This  is  the  case — a  case,  as  I  understand 
it  to  be,  of  the  British  Public  vs.  John  Kirk.  Does  it  not 
appear  to  you  that  Dr.  John  Kirk  never  had  a  word  to  say, 
never  had  a  word  to  write  to  his  old  friend  Dr.  Livingstone 
all  the  time  from  the  1st  of  November,  1870,  to  about  the 
15th  of  February,  1871 ;  that  during  all  this  period  of  three 
and  a  half  months,  Dr.  John  Kirk  showed  great  unkindness, 
unfriendliness  towards  the  old  traveler,  his  former  companion, 
in  not  pushing  the  caravan  carrying  supplies  to  the  man 
with  whom  all,  who  have  read  of  him,  sympathize  so  much  ? 
Does  it  not  seem  to  you,  as  it  does  to  me,  that  had  Dr.  John 
Kirk  bestirred  himself  in  his  grand  character  of  English  "Bal- 
yuz  " — a  noble  name  and  great  title  out  here  in  these  lands — 
that  that  small  caravan  of  thirty-three  men  might  have  been 
despatched  within  a  week  or  so  after  their  arrival  at  Baga- 
moyo, by  which  it  would  have  arrived  here  in  Unyanyembe 
long  before  Mirambo's  war  broke  out  ?  This  war  broke  out 
June  15th,  1871. 

Well,  I  leave  the  case  in  your  hands,  assured  that  your 
intelligence,  your  natural  power  of  discrimination,  your  fine 
sense  of  justice,  will  enable  you  to  decide  whether  this  man 
Dr.  John  Kirk,  professed  friend  of  Dr.  Livingstone,  has 
shown  his  friendship  for  Livingstone  in  leaving  his  caravan 
three  and  a  half  months  at  Bagamoyo ;  whether,  when  he 
went  over  to  Bagamoyo  in  the  character  of  showman  of  wild 
beasts,  to  gratify  the  sporting  instincts  of  the  officers  of  Her 
Britannic  Majesty's  ship  Columbine,  did  he  show  any  very- 
kindly  feeling  to  the  hero  traveler,  when  he  left  the  duty  of 
looking  up  that  caravan  of  the  Doctor's  till  the  last  thing-  0n 
the  programme. 
23 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 
FROM  KWIHARA  TO  UVINZA. 

UJIJI  is  the  name  of  a  province,  not  of  a  single  town.  It 
was  first  visited  by  the  Arabs  about  1840,  ten  years 
after  they  had  penetrated  to  Unyamwezi ;  they  found  it  con- 
veniently situated  as  a  mart  upon  the  Tanganyika  Lake,  and 
a  central  point  where  their  depots  might  be  established,  and 
whence  their  factors  and  slaves  could  navigate  the  waters,  and 
collect  slaves  and  ivory  from  the  tribes  upon  its  banks.  But 
the  climate  proved  unhealthy,  the  people  dangerous,  and  the 
coasting-voyages  frequently  ended  in  disaster;  Ujiji,  there- 
fore, never  rose  to  the  rank  of  Unyanyembe  or  Msene. 

The  land  of  Ujiji  is  bounded  on  the  north  by  the  heights 
of  Urundi,  and  on  the  south  by  the  Ukaranga  country ;  east- 
ward it  extends  to  TJbuha,  and  westward  it  is  washed  by  the 
waves  of  the  Tanganyika  Lake.  On  its  northeast  lies  Uhha, 
now  reduced  by  the  predatory  "Watuta  to  a  luxuriant  desert. 

The  "Watuta  are  a  tribe  of  robbers,  originally  settled  upon 
the  southern  extremity  of  Tanganyika  Lake.  Subsequently 
they  migrated  northward.  Then  they  crossed  the  Malaga- 
razi  River  and  laid  waste  the  lands  of  Uhha  and  Ubuha. 
About  1855  they  attacked  Msene,  and  were  only  repulsed  by 
the  Arabs  after  a  week  of  hard  skirmishing. 

In  1858,  shortly  after  Burton  and  Speke's  departure  from 
Ujiji,  the  "Watuta  marched  against  that  place,  and  but  for 
the  assistance  rendered  to  the  natives  by  the  Arabs  who  had 
just  arrived  wTith  a  large  number  of  slaves,  Ujiji  would 
doubtless  have  been  converted  into  a  grizzly  solitude. 

444 


THE  ROUTE  TO  UJIJI.  445 

Mr.  Stanley  had  good  reasons  for  expecting  to  find  Dr. 
Livingstone  at  Ujiji,  or  to  hear  from  him  definitely  at  that 
place.  Dr.  Livingstone  had,  in  letters  written  in  1868, 
requested  the  Geographical  Society  to  forward  supplies  to 
him  at  Ujiji ;  and  it  was  known  that  supplies  thus  sent  in 
1869,  actually  reached  him  there.  The  caravan  road  from 
Zanzibar  was  a  well-worn  one,  and  had  been  traversed  by 
Burton  and  Speke,  from  whose  labors  Mr.  Stanley,  in  his 
speech  before  the  Geographical  Society,  acknowledged  to 
have  received  assistance.  Dr.  Livingstone,  if  alive,  would 
therefore,  probably,  be  in  the  vicinity  of  Ujiji;  and  here 
Stanley  found  him  on  the  10th  of  November  1871,  after  his 
journey  from  Unyanyembe  as  narrated  in  the  following  pages. 

"  Only  two  months  gone,  and  what  a  change  in  my  feelings ! 
But  two  months  ago,  what  a  peevish,  fretful  soul  was  mine ! 
What  a  hopeless  prospect  presented  itself  before  your  cor- 
respondent !  Arabs  vowing  that  I  would  never  behold  the 
Tanganyika ;  Sheikh,  the  son  of  Nasib,  declaring  me  a  mad- 
man to  his  fellows,  because  I  would  not  heed  his  words.  My 
men  deserting,  my  servants  whining  day  by  day,  and  my 
white  man  endeavoring  to  impress  me  with  the  belief  that 
we  were  all  doomed  men  !  And  the  only  answer  to  it  all  is, 
Livingstone,  the  hero  traveler,  is  alongside  of  me,  writing  as 
hard  as  he  can  to  his  friends  in  England,  India,  and  America, 
and  I  am  quite  safe  and  sound  in  health  and  limb. 

"Wonderful,  is  it  not,  that  such  a  thing  should  be,  when  the 
seers  had  foretold  that  it  would  be  otherwise — that  all  my 
schemes,  that  all  my  determination  would  avail  me  nothing  ? 
But  probably  you  are  in  as  much  of  a  hurry  to  know  how  it 
all  took  place  as  I  am  to  relate.  So,  to  the  recital. 

September  23d,  I  left  Unyanyembe,  driving  before  me  fifty 
well-armed  black  men  loaded  with  the  goods  of  the  expedi- 
tion, and  dragging  after  me  one  white  man.  Several  Arabs 
stood  by  my  late  residence  to  see  the  last  of  me  and  mine,  as 
they  felt  assured  there  was  not  the  least  hope  of  their  ever 
seeing  me  again.  Shaw,  the  white  man,  was  pale  as  death, 
and  would  willingly  have  received  the  order  to  stop  behind 


446  STARTING  FROM  UNYA.NYEMBE. 

in  Unyanyembe,  only  lie  had  not  quite  the  courage  to  ask 
permission,  from  the  fact  that  only  the  night  before,  he  had 
expressed  the  hope  that  I  would  not  leave  him  behind,  and  I 
had  promised  to  give  him  a  good  riding  donkey,  and  to  walk 
after  him,  until  he  recovered  perfect  health. 

However,  as  I  gave  the  order  to  march,  some  of  the  men, 
in  a  hurry  to  obey  the  order,  managed  to  push  by  him  sud- 
denly, and  down  he  went  like  a  dead  man.  The  Arabs, 
thinking,  doubtless,  that  I  would  not  go  now,  because  my 
white  subordinate  seemed  so  ill,  hurried  in  a  body  to  the  fallen 
man,  loudly  crying  at  what  they  were  pleased  to  term  my 
cruelty  and  obstinacy ;  but,  pushing  them  back,  I  mounted 
Shaw  on  his  donkey,  and  told  them  that  I  must  see  the  Tan- 
ganyika first,  as  I  had  sworn  to  go  off. 

Putting  two  soldiers,  one  on  each  side  of  him,  I  ordered 
Shaw  to  move  on,  and  not  to  play  the  fool  before  the  Arabs, 
lest  they  should  triumph  over  us. 

Three  or  four  black  laggards,  loth  to  go,  (Bombay  was  one 
of  them,)  received  my  dog-whip  across  their  shoulders,  as  a 
gentle  intimation  that  I  was  not  to  be  baulked  after  having 
fed  them  so  long  and  paid  them  so  much.  And  it  was  thus 
we  left  Unyanyembe.  Not  in  the  best  humor,  was  it  ?  How- 
ever, where  there  is  a  will  there  is  a  way. 

Once  away  from  the  hateful  valley  of  Kwihara,  once  out 
of  sight  of  the  obnoxious  fields,  my  enthusiasm  for  my  work 
rose  as  new-born  as  when  I  left  the  coast.  But  my  enthusiasm 
was  short-lived,  for  before  reaching  camp,  I  was  almost  delir- 
ious with  fever.  Long  before  I  reached  the  camp,  I  saw 
from  a  ridge  overlooking  a  fair  valley  dotted  with  villages 
and  green  with  groves  of  plantains  and  fields  of  young  rice, 
my  tent,  and  from  its  tall  pole,  the  American  flag,  waving 
gaily  before  the  strong  breeze  which  blew  from  the  eastward. 
When  I  had  arrived  at  the  camp,  burning  with  fever,  my 
pulse  bounding  many  degrees  too  fast,  and  my  temper  made 
more  acrimonious  by  my  sufferings,  I  found  the  camp  almost 
deserted. 

The  men  as  soon  as  they  had  arrived  at  Mkwenkwe,  the 


A  HUNT  FOR  DESERTERS.  447 

village  agreed  upon,  had  hurried  back  to  Kwihara.  Living- 
stone's letter-carrier  had  not  made  his  appearance — it  was  an 
abandoned  camp.  I  instantly  despatched  six  of  the  best  of 
those  who  had  refused  to  return,  to  ask  Sheikh,  the  son  of 
Nasib,  to  lend  or  sell  me  the  longest  slave  chain  he  had,  then 
to  hunt  up  the  runaways  and  bring  them  back  to  camp  bound, 
and  promised  them  that  for  every  head  captured,  they  should 
have  a  bran  new  cloth.  I  alsg  did  not  forget  to  tell  my  trusty 
men  to  tell  Livingstone's  messenger  that  if  he  did  not  come 
to  camp  before  night,  I  would  return  to  Unyanyembe — or 
Kwihara  rather,  for  I  was  yet  in  Unyanyembe — catch  him, 
and  put  him  in  chains,  and  never  release  him,  until  his  master 
saw  him.  My  men  went  off  in  high  glee,  and  I  went  off  to 
bed,  passing  long  hours  groaning  and  tossing  about,  for  the 
deadly  sickness  that  had  overtaken  me. 

Next  morning,  fourteen  out  of  twenty  of  those  who  had 
deserted  back  to  their  wives  and  huts,  (as  is  generally  the 
custom,)  had  reappeared,  and,  as  the  fever  had  left  me,  I  only 
lectured  them,  and  they  gave  me  their  promise  not  to  desert 
me  again  under  any  circumstances.  Livingstone's  messenger 
had  passed  the  night  in  bonds,  because  he  had  resolutely 
refused  to  come.  I  unloosed  him,  and  gave  him  a  paternal 
lecture,  painting  in  glowing  colors  the  benefits  he  would 
receive,  if  he  came  along  quietly,  and  the  horrible  punish- 
ment of  being  chained  up  until  I  reached  Ujiji,  if  he  was  still 
resolved  not  to  come.  "  Kaif  Halleck,"  (Arabic  for  "  How 
do  you  do  ?")  melted,  and  readily  gave  me  his  promise  to 
come  and  obey  me  as  he  would  his  own  master — Livingstone 
— until  we  should  see  him,  "  which  Inshallah  we  shall !" 
"  Please  God,  please  God,  we  shall,"  I  replied, "  and  you  wilj 
be  no  loser." 

During  the  day  my  soldiers  had  captured  the  others,  and 
as  they  all  promised  obedience  and  fidelity  in  future,  they 
escaped  punishment.  But  I  was  well  aware  that  so  long  as  I 
remained  in  such  close  proximity,  the  temptation  to  revisit 
the  fat  pasture  grounds  of  Unyanyembe,  where  they  had 
luxuriated  so  long,  would  be  too  strong ;  and  to  enable  them 


44:8  PUNISHMENT  OF  THE  RUNAWAYS 

to  resist  I  ordered  a  inarch  towards  evening,  and  two  hours 
after  dark  we  arrived  at  the  village  of  Kasegera. 

It  is  possible  for  any  of  your  readers  so  disposed,  to  con- 
struct a  map  of  the  road  on  which  the  Herald  expedition  was 
now  journeying,  if  they  draw  a  line  one  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  long,  south  by  west  from  Unyanyembe,  then  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  miles  west  northwest,  then  ninety  miles  north, 
half  east,  then  seventy  miles  west  by  north,  and  that  will  take 
them  to  Ujiji. 

Before  taking  up  the  narrative  of  the  march,  I  must  tell 
you  that  during  the  night,  after  reaching  Kasegera,  two 
deserted,  and  on  calling  the  men  to  fall  in  for  the  road,  I 
detected  two  more  trying  to  steal  away  behind  some  of  the 
huts  of  the  village  wherein  we  encamped.  An  order  quietly 
given  to  Chowperch  and  Bombay  soon  brought  them  back, 
and  without  hesitation  I  had  them  tied  up  and  flogged,  and 
then  adorned  their  stubborn  necks  with  the  chain  kindly  lent 
by  Sheikh  bin  Nasib. 

I  had  good  cause  to  chuckle  complacently  for  the  bright 
idea  that  suggested  the  chain  as  a  means  to  check  the  tendency 
of  the  bounty  jumpers  to  desert ;  for  these  men  were  as  much 
bounty  jumpers  as  our  refractory  roughs  during  the  war,  who 
pocketed  their  thousands,  and  then  coolly  deserted.  These 
men,  imitating  their  white  prototypes,  had  received  double 
pay  of  cloth,  and  double  rations,  and,  imagining  they  could 
do  with  me  as  they  could  with  the  other  good  white  men, 
whom  tradition  kept  faithfully  in  memory,  who  had  proceeded 
your  correspondent  in  this  country,  waited  for  opportunities 
to  decamp  ;  but  I  was  determined  to  try  a  new  method,  not 
having  the  fear  of  Exeter  Hall  before  my  eyes,  and  I  am 
happy  to  say  to-day,  for  the  benefit  of  all  future  travelers, 
that  it  is  the  best  method  yet  adopted,  and  that  I  will  never 
travel  in  Africa  again,  without  a  good,  long  chain. 

Chowperch  and  Bombay  returned  to  Unyanyembe,  and 
the  "  Herald  Expedition  "  kept  on  its  way  south,  for  I  desired 
to  put  as  many  miles  as  possible  between  that  district  and 
ourselves,  for  I  perceived  that  few  were  inclined  for  the  road, 


MR.  SHAW  SENT  BACK. 

my  white  man,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  least  of  all.  The  village 
of  Kigandu  was  reached,  after  four  hours'  march  from  Kase- 
gera. 

As  we  entered  the  camp,  Shaw,  the  Englishman,  fell  from 
his  donkey,  and,  despite  all  endeavors  to  raise  him  up,  refused 
to  stand.  When  his  tent  was  pitched,  I  had  him  carried  in 
from  the  sun,  and  after  tea  was  made,  I  persuaded  him  to 
swallow  a  cup,  which  seemed  to  revive  him.  He  then  said 
to  me : — 

"  Mr.  Stanley,  I  don't  believe  I  can  go  further  with  you. 
I  feel  very  much  worse,  and  I  beg  of  you  to  let  me  go 
back." 

This  was  just  what  I  expected.  I  knew  perfectly  well  what 
was  coming,  while  he  was  drinking  his  tea,  and,  with  the 
illustrious  example  of  Livingstone  traveling  by  himself  before 
me,  I  was  asking  myself,  would  it  not  be  just  as  well  for  me 
to  try  to  do  the  same  thing,  instead  of  dragging  an  unwilling 
man  with  me,  who  would,  if  I  refused  to  send  him  back,  be 
only  a  hindrance  ?  So  I  told  him : — 

"  "Well,  my  dear  Shaw,  I  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that 
it  is  best  you  should  return,  and  I  will  hire  some  carriers  to 
take  you  back  in  a  cot,  which  I  will  have  made  immediately 
to  carry  you  in.  In  the  meanwhile,  for  your  own  sake,  I 
would  advise  you  to  keep  yourself  as  busy  as  possible,  and 
follow  the  instructions  as  to  diet  and  medicine  which  I  will 
write  out  for  you.  You  shall  have  the  key  to  the  store-room, 
and  you  can  help  yourself  to  anything  you  may  fancy." 

These  were  the  words  with  which  I  parted  from  him — as 
next  morning  I  only  bade  him  good  bye,  besides  enjoining  on 
him  to  be  of  good  hope,  as,  if  I  was  successful,  not  more  than 
five  months  would  elapse  before  I  would  return  to  Unyan- 
yembe.  Chowperch  and  Bombay  returned  before  I  started 
from  Kigandu,  with  the  runaways,  and  after  administering  to 
them  a  sound  flogging,  I  chained  them,  and  the  expedition 
was  once  more  on  its  way. 

"We  were  about  entering  the  immense  forest  that  separates 
Unyanyembe  from  the  district  of  Ugunda.  In  lengthy, 


450  A  PLUNGE  INTO  THE  WILDERNESS. 

undulating  waves,  the  land  stretches  before  us — the  new  land 
which  no  European  knew,  the  unknown,  mystic  land.  The 
view  which  the  eyes  hurry  to  embrace,  as  we  ascend  some 
ridge  higher  than  another,  is  one  of  the  most  disheartening 
that  can  be  conceived.  Away,  one  beyond  another,  wave  the 
lengthy  rectilinear  ridges,  clad  in  the  same  garb  of  color. 
Woods,  woods,  woods,  forests,  leafy  branches,  green  and  sere, 
yellow  and  dark  red  and  purple,  then  an  indefinable  ocean, 
bluer  than  the  bluest  sky.  The  horizon  all  around  shows  the 
same  scene — a  sky  dropping  into  the  depths  of  the  endless 
forest,  with  but  two  or  three  tall  giants  of  the  forest  higher 
than  their  neighbors,  which  are  conspicuous  in  their  outlines, 
to  break  the  monotony  of  the  scene.  On  no  one  point  do 
our  eyes  rest  with  pleasure ;  they  have  viewed  the  same  out- 
lines, the  same  forest,  and  the  same  horizon,  day  after  day, 
week  after  week  ;  and  again,  like  Noah's  dove  from  wander- 
Ing  over  a  world  without  a  halting  place,  return  wearied  with 
the  search. 

Mukunguru,  or  fever,  is  very  plentiful  in  these  forests, 
owing  to  their  density  preventing  free  circulation  of  air,  as 
well  as  want  of  drainage.  As  we  proceed  on  our  journey,  in 
the  dry  season,  as  it  is  with  us  now,  we  see  nothing  very 
offensive  to  the  sight.  If  the  trees  are  dense,  impeding  fresh 
air,  we  are  shaded  from  the  sun,  and  may  often  walk  long 
stretches  with  the  hat  off.  Numbers  of  trees  lie  about,  in 
the  last  stages  of  decay,  and  working  with  might  and  main, 
are  numberless  ants  of  various  species,  to  clear  the  encumbered 
ground,  and  thus  they  do  such  a  country  as  this  great  service. 
Impalpably,  however,  the  poison  of  the  dead  and  corrupting 
vegetation  is  inhaled  into  the  system,  with  often  as  fatal 
result  as  that  which  is  said  to  arise  from  the  vicinity  of  the 
upas  tree. 

The  first  evil  results  experienced  from  the  presence  of 
malaria,  are  confined  bowels,  an  oppressive  languor,  excessive 
drowsiness,  and  a  constant  disposition  to  yawn.  The  tongue 
has  a  sickly  yellow  hue,  or  is  colored  almost  to  blackness ; 
even  the  teeth  assume  a  yellow  color,  and  become  coated  with 


THE  STRONG  FORTRESS  OF  UGUXDA.  451 

an  offensive  matter.  The  eyes  sparkle  with  a  lustre  which  is 
an  unmistakable  symptom  of  the  fever  in  its  incipient  state, 
which  presently  will  rage  through  the  system,  and  lay  the 
sufferer  prostrate,  quivering  with  agony. 

This  fever  is  sometimes  proceeded  by  a  violent  shaking  fit, 
during  which  period  blankets  may  be  heaped  upon  the  sufferer 
with  but  little  amelioration  of  his  state.  It  is  then  succeeded 
by  an  unusually  severe  headache,  with  excessive  pains  about 
the  loins  and  spinal  column,  spreading  gradually  over  the 
shoulder  blades,  and  which,  running  up  the  nape  of  the  neck, 
finally  find  a  lodgment  in  the  posterior  or  front  parts  of  the 
head.  This  kind  is  generally  of  the  intermittent  type,  and 
is  not  considered  dangerous.  The  remittent  form — the  most 
dangerous — is  not  proceeded  by  a  fainting  fit,  but  the  patient 
is  at  once  seized  with  excessive  heat,  throbbing  temples,  loin 
and  spinal  aches ;  a  raging  thirst  takes  possession  of  him,  and 
the  brain  becomes  clouded  with  strange  fancies,  which  some- 
times assume  most  hideous  shapes.  Before  the  darkened 
vision,  float  in  a  seething  atmosphere  figures  of  created  and 
uncreated,  possible  and  impossible  -figures,  which  are  meta- 
morphosed every  instant  into  stranger  shapes  and  designs, 
growing  every  instant  more  confused,  more  complicated, 
hideous,  and  terrible,  until  the  sufferer,  unable  to  bear  longer 
the  distracting  scene,  with  an  effort  opens  his  eyes  and  dis- 
solves it,  only  to  glide  again  unconsciously  into  another 
dreamland,  where  a  similar  unreal  inferno  is  dioramically 
revealed. 

It  takes  seven  hours  to  traverse  the  forest  between  Kigandu 
and  Ugunda,  when  we  come  to  the  capital  of  the  new  district, 
wherein  one  may  laugh  at  Mirambo  and  his  forest  thieves. 
At  least  the  Sultan,  or  Lord  of  Ugunda,  feels  in  a  laughing 
mood  while  in  his  strong,  stockade,  should  one  but  hint  to 
him  that  Mirambo  might  come  to  settle  up  the  long  debt  that 
Chieftain  owes  him,  for  defeating  him  the  last  time — a  year 
ago — when  he  attempted  to  storm  his  place. 

And  well  may  the  Sultan  laugh  at  him,  and  all  others  which 
the  hospitable  Chief  may  permit  to  reside  within,  for  it  is  the 


452  A  BELLIGERENT  CHIEFTAIN. 

strongest  place — except  Simba-Moeni  and  Kwihara,  in 
Unyanyembe — I  have  as  yet  seen  in  Africa.  The  defences 
of  the  capital  consist  of  a  strong  stockade  surrounding  it,  or 
tall,  thick  poles  planted  deep  in  the  earth,  and  so  close  to 
each  other  in  some  places,  that  a  spear  head  could  not  be 
driven  between.  At  intervals,  also,  rise  wooden  towers  above 
the  palisade,  where  the  best  marksman,  known  for  their  skill 
with  the  musket,  are  posted,  to  pick  out  the  foremost  or 
most  prominent  of  the  assailants.  Against  such  forces  as  the 
African  chiefs  could  bring  against  such  palisaded  villages, 
Uganda  may  be  considered  impregnable,  though  a  few  white 
men  with  a  two-pounder  might  soon  eifect  an  entrance. 

Having  arrived  safely  at  Ugunda,  we  may  now  proceed  on 
our  journey  fearless  of  Mirambo,  though  he  has  attacked 
places  four  days  south  of  this ;  but  as  he  has  already  at  a 
former  time,  felt  the  power  of  the  Wanyamwezi  of  Ugunda, 
he  will  not  venture  again  in  a  hurry.  On  the  sixth  day  of 
our  departure  from  Unyanyembe,  we  continued  our  journey 
south. 

Three  long  marches,  under  a  hot  sun,  through  jungly  plains, 
heat-cracked  expanses  of  prairie  land,  through  young  forests, 
haunted  by  the  tsetse  and  sword  flies,  considered  fatal  to 
cattle,  brought  us  to  the  gates  of  a  village  called  Manyara, 
whose  chief  was  determined  not  to  let  us  in  nor  sell  us  a  grain 
of  corn,  because  he  had  never  seen  a  white  man  before,  and 
he  must  know  all  about  this  wonderful  specimen  of  humanity, 
before  he  would  allow  us  to  pass  through  his  country.  My 
men  were  immediately  dismayed  at  this,  and  the  guide,  whom 
I  had  already  marked  as  a  coward,  and  one  I  mistrusted, 
quaked  as  if  he  had  the  ague.  The  chief,  however,  expressed 
his  belief  that  we  should  find  a  suitable  camping-place  near 
some  pools  of  water  distant  half  a  mile  to  the  right  of  his 
village. 

Having  arrived  at  the  khambi,  or  camp,  I  despatched  Bom- 
bay with  a  propitiating  gift  of  cloth  to  the  chief — a  gift  at 
once  so  handsome  and  so  munificent,  consisting  of  no  less 
than  two  royal  cloths  and  three  common  dotis,  that  the  chief 


STANLEY  ASTONISHES  THE  NATIVES.  453 

surrendered  at  once,  declaring  that  the  white  man  was  a  supe- 
rior being  to  any  he  had  ever  seen. 

"  Surely,"  said  he,  "  he  must  have  a  friend ;  otherwise  how 
came  he  to  send  me  such  fine  clothes  ?  Tell  the  white  man 
that  I  shall  come  and  see  him." 

Permission  was  at  once  given  to  his  people  to  sell  us  as 
much  corn  as  we  needed.  We  had  barely  finished  distribu- 
ting five  days'  rations  to  each  man  when  the  chief  was 
announced. 

Gun-bearers,  twenty  in  number,  preceded  him,  and  thirty 
spear-men  followed  him,  and  behind  these  came  eight  or  ten 
men,  loaded  with  gifts  of  honey,  native  beer,  holcus  sorghum, 
beans  and  maize.  I  at  once  advanced  and  invited  the  chief 
to  my  tent,  which  had  undergone  some  alterations,  that  I 
might  honor  him  as  much  as  lay  in  my  power.  Ma-manyara 
was  a  tall,  stalwart  man,  with  a  very  pleasing  face.  He  car- 
ried in  his  hand  a  couple  of  spears,  and,  with  the  exception 
of  a  well-worn  barsati  around  his  loins,  he  was  naked.  Three 
of  his  principal  men  and  himself  were  invited  to  sit  on  my 
Persian  carpet.  They  began  to  admire  it  excessively,  and 
asked  if  it  came  from  my  country  ?  Where  was  my  country  ? 
Was  it  large  ?  How  many  days  to  it  ?  Was  I  a  king  ?  Had 
I  many  soldiers  ?  were  questions  quickly  asked,  and  as  quickly 
answered,  and  the  ice  being  broken,  the  chief  being  equally 
candid  as  I  was  myself,  he  grasped  my  fore  and  middle  fin- 
gers, and  vowed  we  were  friends.  The  revolvers  and  Win- 
chester's repeating  rifles  were  things  so  wonderful,  thai  to 
attempt  to  give  you  any  idea  of  how  awe-struck  he  and  his 
men  were,  would  task  my  powers. 

The  chief  roared  with  laughter ;  he  tickled  his  men  in  the 
ribs  with  his  fore-finger,  he  clasped  their  fore  and  middle  fin- 
gers, and  vowed  that  the  Muzungu  was  a  wonder,  a  marvel, 
and  no  mistake.  Did  they  ever  see  anything  like  it  ? 

"  No,"  his  men  solemnly  said. 

Did  they  ever  hear  anything  like  it  before  1 

"  No,"  as  solemnly  as  before. 


4:54:  THE  WHITE  MAX'S  TOMBE. 

"Is  he  not  a  wonder?  Quite  a  wonder — positively  a 
wonder !" 

My  medicine  chest  was  opened  next,  and  I  uncorked  a 
small  phial  of  medicinal  brandy,  and  gave  them  each  a  spoon- 
ful. The  men  all  gazed  at  their  chief,  and  he  gazed  at  them  ; 
they  were  questioning  each  other  with  their  eyes.  What  was 
it?  "Pombe,"  was  my  reply.  "Pombe  kisungu."  (The 
white  man's  pombe.) 

"  Surely  this  is  also  wonderful,  as  all  things  belonging  to 
him  are,"  said  the  chief. 

"Wonderful,"  they  echoed ;  and  then  all  burst  into  another 
series  of  cachinnations,  ear-splitting,  almost. 

Smelling  at  the  ammonia  bottle  was  a  thing  all  must  have ; 
but  some  were  fearful,  owing  to  the  effects  produced  on  each 
man's  eyes,  and  the  facial  contortions  which  followed  the 
olfactory  effort.  The  chief  smelt  three  or  four  times,  after 
which  he  declared  his  headache  vanished,  and  that  I  must  be 
a  great  and  good  white  man.  Suffice  it,  that  I  made  myself 
so  popular  with  Ma-manyara  and  his  people,  that  they  will 
not  forget  me  in  a  hurry. 

Leaving  kind  and  hospitable  Ma-manyara,  after  a  four  hour's 
inarch,  we  came  to  the  banks  of  the  Gombe  Nullah,  not  the 
one  which  Burton  and  Speke  have  described,  for  the  Gombe 
which  I  mean  is  about  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  miles 
south  of  the  Northern  Gombe.  The  glorious  park  land 
spreading  out  north  and  south  of  the  Southern  Gombe  is  a 
hunter's  paradise.  It  is  full  of  game  of  all  kinds — herds  of 
buffalo,  giraffe,  zebra,  pallah,  water  buck,  springbok,  gems- 
bok,  blackbuck,  and  kudu,  besides  several  eland,  warthog,  or 
wild  boar,  and  hundreds  of  the  smaller  antelope.  We  saw  all 
these  in  one  day,  and  at  night  heard  the  lions  roar,  and  the 
low  of  the  hippopotamus. 

I  halted  here  three  days  to  shoot,  and  there  is  no  occasion 
to  boast  of  what  I  shot,  considering  the  myriads  of  game  I 
saw  at  every  step  I  took.  Not  half  the  animals  shot  here  by 
myself  and  men  were  made  use  of.  Two  buffaloes  and  one 
kudu  were  brought  to  camp  the  first  day,  besides  a  wild  boar, 


III -\TI\I;  i:rn  U.OKS. 


HUNTING  ADVENTURES.  457 

which  my  mess  finished  up  in  one  night.  My  boy  gun-bear- 
ers sat  up  the  whole  night  eating  boar  meat,  and  until  I  went 
to  sleep,  I  could  hear  the  buffalo  meat  sizzing  over  the  fire, 
as  the  Islamized  soldiers  prepared  it  for  the  road. 

The  second  day  of  the  halt,  I  took  the  Winchester  rifle,  or 
the  fifteen  shooter,  to  prey  on  the  populous  plain,  but  I  only 
bagged  a  tiny  blue  buck  by  shooting  it  through  the  head.  I 
had  expected  great  things  of  this  rifle,  and  am  sorry  I  was 
disappointed.  The  Winchester  rifle  cartridges  might  as  well 
have  been  filled  up  with  sawdust,  as  with  the  powder  the 
New  York  Ammunition  Company  put  in  them.  Only  two 
out  of  the  ten  would  fire,  which  so  spoiled  my  aim  that  noth- 
ing could  be  done  with  the  rifle.  The  cartridges  of  all  the 
English  rifles  always  went  off,  and  I  commend  Eley,  of  Lon- 
don, to  everybody  in  need  of  cartridges  to  explode. 

The  third  day,  arming  myself  with  a  double-barreled  English 
smooth-bore,  I  reaped  a  bountiful  harvest  of  meat,  and  having 
marched  over  a  larger  space,  saw  a  much  larger  variety  of 
game  than  on  any  preceding  day.  The  Gombe  Nullah,  dur- 
ing the  dry  season,  is  but  a  system  of  long,  narrow  pools,  full 
of  crocodiles  and  hippopotami.  In  the  wet  season,  it  over- 
flows its  banks,  and  is  a  swift,  broad  stream,  emptying  into 
the  Malagarazi,  thence  into  the  Lake  Tanganyika. 

From  Manyara  to  Marefu,  in  Ukonongo,  are  five  days' 
marches.  It  is  an  uninhabited  forest  now,  and  is  about  eighty 
miles  in  length.  Clumps  of  forest,  and  dense  islets  of  jungle 
dot  plains,  which  separate  the  forests  proper.  It  is  monoto- 
nous, owing  to  the  sameness  of  the  scenes.  And  throughout 
this  length  of  eighty  miles,  there  is  nothing  to  catch  a  man's 
eye  in  search  of  the  picturesque  or  novel,  save  the  Gombe's 
pools,  with  their  amphibious  inhabitants,  and  the  variety  of 
noble  game  which  inhabit  the  forests  and  plain. 

A  traveling  band  of  Wakonongo,  bound  to  Ukonongo  from 
Manyara,  prayed  to  have  our  escort,  which  was  readily  granted. 
They  were  famous  foresters,  who  knew  the  various  fruits  fit 
to  eat ;  who  knew  the  cry  of  the  honey  bird,  and  could  follow 
it  to  the  treasure  of  honey  which  it  wished  to  show  its  human 


458  THE  HONEY  BIRD— BOMBAY  SULKY. 

friends.  It  is  a  pretty  bird,  not  much,  larger  than  a  wren,  and, 
"  tweet-tweet,"  it  immediately  cries  when  it  sees  a  human 
being.  It  becomes  very  busy  all  at  once,  hops  and  skips,  and 
Hies  from  branch  to  branch  with  marvelous  celerity.  The 
traveler  lifts  up  his  eyes,  beholds  the  tiny  little  bird,  hopping 
about,  and  hears  its  sweet  call — "  tweet-tweet-tweet."  If  he 
is  a  "Wakonongo  he  follows  it.  Away  flies  the  bird  on  to 
another  tree,  springs  to  another  branch  nearer  to  the  lagging 
man,  as  if  to  say,  "  Shall  I,  must  I  come  and  fetch  you  ?"  but 
assured  by  his  advance,  is  away  again  to  another  tree,  coquets 
about,  and  tweets  his  call  rapidly ;  sometimes  more  earnest 
and  loud,  as  if  chiding  him  for  being  so  slow  ;  then  off  again, 
until  at  last  the  treasure  is  found  and  secured.  And  as  he  is 
a  very  busy  little  bird,  while  the  man  secures  his  treasure  of 
honey,  he  plumes  himself,  ready  for  another  flight,  and  to 
discover  another  treasure.  Every  evening  the  "Wakonongo 
brought  us  stores  of  beautiful  red  and  white  honey,  which  is 
only  to  be  secured  in  the  dry  season.  Over  pancakes  and 
fritters  the  honey  is  very  excellent ;  bat  it  is  apt  to  disturb 
the  stomach ;  I  seldom  rejoiced  in  its  sweetness,  without  suf- 
fering some  indisposition  afterwards. 

As  we  were  leaving  the  banks  of  the  Gombe  at  one  time, 
near  a  desolate  looking  place,  fit  scene  for  a  tragedy,  occurred 
an  incident  which  I  shall  not  readily  forget.  I  had  given 
three  days'  rest  to  the  soldiers,  and  their  cloth-loads  were  fur- 
nished with  bountiful  supplies  of  meat,  which  told  how  well 
they  had  enjoyed  themselves  during  the  halt ;  but  the  guide, 
a  stubborn  fellow,  one  inclined  to  be  impertinent  whenever 
he  had  the  chance,  wished  for  another  day's  hunting.  He 
selected  Bombay  as  his  mouth  piece,  and  I  scolded  Bombay 
for  being  the  bearer  of  such  an  unreasonable  demand,  when 
he  knew  very  well  I  could  not  possibly  allow  it,  after  halting 
already  three  days.  Bombay  became  sulky,  said  it  was  not 
his  fault,  and  that  he  could  do  nothing  more  than  come  and 
tell  me,  which  I  denied  in  toto,  and  said  to  him  that  he  could 
have  done  much,  very  much  more,  and  better,  by  telling  the 
guide  that  another  day's  halt  was  impossible ;  that  we  had 


STANLEY  QUELLS  A  MUTINY.  459 

not  come  to  hunt,  but  to  march  and  find  the  white  man,  Liv- 
ingstone ;  that  if  he  had  spoken  to  the  guide  against  it,  as  it 
was  his  duty,  he  being  captain,  instead  of  accepting  the  task 
of  conveying  unpleasant  news  to  me,  it  would  have  been  much 
better. 

I  ordered  the  horn  to  sound,  and  the  expedition  had  gone 
but  three  miles,  when  I  found  they  had  come  to  a  dead  stand. 
As  I  was  walking  up  to  see  what  was  the  matter,  I  saw  the 
guide  and  his  brother  sitting  on  an  ant-hill,  apart  from  the 
other  people,  fingering  their  guns  in  what  appeared  to  me  a 
most  suspicious  manner.  Calling  Selim,  I  took  the  double- 
barreled  smooth-bore,  and  slipped  in  two  charges  of  buck- 
shot, and  then  walked  on  to  my  people,  keeping  an  eye,  how- 
ever, upon  the  guide  and  his  brother.  I  asked  Bombay  to 
give  me  an  explanation  of  the  stoppage.  He  would  not 
answer,  though  he  mumbled  something  sullenly,  which  was 
unintelligible  to  me. 

I  looked  to  the  other  people,  and  perceived  that  they  acted 
in  an  irresolute  manner,  as  if  they  feared  to  take  my  part,  or 
were  of  the  same  mind  as  the  party  on  the  ant-hill.  I  was 
but  thirty  paces  from  the  guide,  and  throwing  the  barrel  of 
the  gun  into  the  hollow  of  my  left  hand,  I  presented  it 
cocked  at  the  guide,  and  called  out  to  him,  if  he  did  not  come 
to  me  at  once  I  would  shoot  him,  giving  him  and  his  com- 
panion to  understand  that  I  had  twenty-four  small  bullets  in 
the  gun,  and  that  I  could  blow  them  to  pieces. 

In  a  very  reluctant  manner  they  advanced  toward  me. 
When  they  were  sufficiently  near,  I  ordered  them  to  halt ; 
but  the  guide,  as  he  did  so,  brought  his  gun  to  the  present, 
with  his  finger  on  the  trigger,  and,  with  a  treacherous  and 
cunning  smile  which  I  perfectly  understood,  he  asked  what  I 
wanted  of  him. 

His  companion,  while  he  was  speaking,  was  sidling  to  my 
rear,  and  was  imprudently  engaged  in  filling  the  pan  of  his 
musket  with  powder  ;  but  a  threat  to  finish  him  if  he  did  not 
go  back  to  his  companion,  and  there  stand  until  I  gave  him 
permission  to  move,  compelled  this  villainous  Thersites  to 


460  A  TRAGEDY  ADVERTED. 

execute  the  "  right  about "  with  a  promptitude  which  earned 
commendation  from  me. 

Then,  facing  my  Ajax  of  a  guide  with  my  gun,  I  next 
requested  him  to  lower  his  gun,  if  he  did  not  wish  to  receive 
the  contents  of  mine  in  his  head ;  and  I  do  not  know  but 
what  the  terrible  catastrophe  warranted  by  stern  necessity 
had  occurred  then  and  there,  if  Mabouki  ("  bull-headed " 
Mabouki,  but  my  faithful  porter  and  faithful  soldier),  had 
not  dashed  the  man's  gun  aside,  asking  him  how  he  dared 
level  his  gun  at  his  master,  and  then  thrown  himself  at  my 
feet,  praying  me  to  forgive  him.  Mabouki's  action  and  sub- 
sequent conduct  somewhat  disconcerted  myself,  as  well  as 
the  murderous-looking  guide,  but  I  felt  thankful  that  I  had 
been  spared  shedding  blood,  though  there  was  great  provo- 
cation. 

Few  cases  of  homicide  could  have  been  more  justified 
than  this,  and  I  felt  certain  that  this  man  had  been  seduc- 
ing my  soldiers  from  their  duties  to  me,  and  was  the  cause, 
principally,  of  Bombay  remaining  in  the  background  during 
this  interesting  episode  of  a  march  through  the  wilderness, 
instead  of  acting  the  part  which  Mabouki  so  readily  undertook 
to  do. 

When  Mabouki's  prayer  for  forgiveness  Was  seconded  by 
that  of  the  principal  culprit,  that  I  would  overlook  his  act,  I 
was  enabled  to  act  as  became  a  prudent  commander,  though 
I  felt  some  remorse  that  I  had  not  availed  myself  of  the 
opportunity  to  punish  the  guide  and  his  companion  as  they 
eminently  deserved.  But  perhaps  had  I  proceeded  to  extrem- 
ities, my  people — fickle  enough  at  all  times — would  have 
taken  the  act  as  justifying  them  for  deserting  in  a  body,  and 
the  search  after  Livingstone  had  ended  there  and  then,  which 
would  have  been  as  unwelcome  to  the  Herald,  as  unhappy  to 
myself. 

However,  as  Bombay  could  not  bend  himself  to  ask  for- 
giveness, I  came  to  the  conclusion  that  it  were  best  he  should 
be  made  to  feel  the  penalty  for  stirring  dissensions  in  the 
expedition,  and  be  brought  to  look  with  a  more  amiable  face 


OLD  HASSAN'S  PATIENCE  AND  WOES.  461 

upon  the  scheme  of  proceeding  to  Ujiji,  through  Ukonongo 
and  Ukawendi,  and  I  at  once  proceeded  about  it  with  such 
vigor,  that  Bombay's  back  will  for  as  long  a  time  bear  traces 
of  the  punishment  which  I  administered  to  him,  as  his  front 
teeth  do  of  that  which  Speke  rightfully  bestowed  on  him 
some  eleven  years  ago.  And  here  I  may  as  well  interpolate 
by  way  of  parenthesis,  that  I  am  not  at  all  obliged  to  Captain 
Burton  for  a  recomendation  of  a  man  who  so  ill  deserved  it 
as  Bombay. 

Arriving  at  Marefu,  we  overtook  an  embassy  from  the 
Arabs  at  Unyanyembe  to  the  chief  of  the  ferocious  Watuta, 
who  live  a  month's  march  southwest  of  this  frontier  village 
of  Ukonongo.  Old  Hassan,  the  Mseguhha,  was  the  person 
who  held  the  honorable  post  of  chief  of  the  embassy,  who 
had  volunteered  to  conduct  the  negotiations  which  were  to 
secure  the  "Watuta's  services  against  Mirambo,  the  dreaded 
chief  of  Uyowa.  Assured  by  the  Arabs  that  there  was  no 
danger,  and  having  received  the  sum  of  forty  dollars  for  his 
services,  he  had  gone  on,  sanguine  of  success,  and  had  arrived 
at  Marefu,  where  we  overtook  him. 

But  old  Hassan  was  not  the  man  for  the  position,  as  I  per- 
ceived, when,  after  visiting  me  in  my  tent,  he  began  to  unfold 
the  woes  which   already  had   befallen  him,  which  were  as 
nothing,  however,  to  those  sure  to  happen  to  him  if  he  went 
on  much  farther.     There  were  only  two  roads  by  which  he 
might  hope  to  reach   the  "Watuta,  and  these  ran  through 
countries  where  the  people  of  Mbogo  of  Ukonongo  wrere  at 
war  with  Niongo,  the  brother  of  Manua  Sera,  (the  chief  who 
disturbed  Unyanyembe  during  Speke's  residence  there,)  and 
the  Wasavira  contended  against  Simba,  son  of  King  Mkasiva. 
He  was  eloquent  in  endeavoring  to  dissuade  me  from  the 
attempt  to  pass  through  the  country  of  the  "Wasavira,  and 
advised  me,  as  an  old  man  who  knew  well  whereof  he  was 
speaking,  not  to  proceed  farther,  but  wait  at  Marefu  until 
better  times ;  and,  sure  enough,  on  my  return  from  Ujiji  with 
Livingstone,  I  heard  that  old  Hassan  was  still  encamped  at 
Marefu,  waiting  patiently  for  the  better  times  he  hoped  to  see. 
24 


402  THE  IXCORRIGIBLES  IX  CHAINS. 

"We  left  old  Hassan — after  earnestly  commending  him  to 
the.care  of  "  Allah" — the  next  day,  for  the  prosecution  of  the 
work  of  the  expedition,  feeling  much  happier  than  we  had 
felt  for  many  a  day.  Desertions  had  now  ceased,  and  there 
remained  in  chains  but  one  incorrigible,  whom  I  had  appre- 
hended twice  after  twice  deserting.  Bombay  and  his  sympa- 
thizers were  now  beginning  to  perceive  that  after  all  there 
was  not  much  danger — at  least  not  as  much  as  the  Arabs 
desired  us  to  believe — and  he  was  heard  expressing  his  belief, 
in  his  broken  English,  that  I  would  "  catch  the  Tanganyika 
after  all,"  and  the  standing  joke  was  now  that  we  could  smell 
the  fish  of  the  Tanganyika  Lake,  and  that  we  could  not  bo 
far  from  it. 

New  scenes  also  met  the  eye.  Here  and  there  were 
upheaved  above  the  tree  tops  sugar-loaf  hills,  and,  darkly 
blue,  west  of,  us  loomed  up  a  noble  ridge  of  hills  which  form- 
ed the  boundary  between  Kamirabo's  territory  and  that  of 
Utende.  Elephant  tracks  became  numerous,  and  buffalo  met 
the  delighted  eyes  everywhere.  Crossing  the  mountainous 
ridge  of  Mwaru,  with  its  lengthy  slope  slowly  descending 
westward,  the  vegetation  became  more  varied  and  the  out- 
lines of  the  land  before  us  more  picturesque. 

We  became  sated  with  the  varieties  of  novel  fruit  which 
we  saw  hanging  thickly  on  trees.  There  was  the  mbembu 
with  the  taste  of  an  over-ripe  peach  ;  the  tamarind  pod  and 
beans,  with  their  grateful  acidity,  resembling  somewhat  the 
lemon  in  its  flavor.  The  matonga,  or  nux  vomica,  was  wel- 
come, and  the  luscious  singwe,  the  plum  of  Africa,  was  the 
most  delicious  of  all. 

Ptarmigans  and  ducks  supplied  our  table,  and  often  the 
lump  of  a  buffalo  or  an  extravagant  piece  of  venison  filled 
our  camp  kettles.  My  health  was  firmly  established.  The 
faster  we  prosecuted  our  journey  the  better  I  felt.  I  had 
long  bidden  adieu  to  the  nauseous  calomel  and  rhubarb  com- 
pounds, and  had  become  a  stranger  to  quinine.  There  was 
only  one  drawback  to  it  all,  and  that  was  the  feeble  health  of 
the  Arab  boy  Selim,  who  was  suffering  from  an  attack  of 


AN  OMINOUS  SIGHT.  463 

acute  dysentery,  caused  by  inordinate  drinking  of  the  bad 
water  of  the  pools  at  which  we  had  camped  between  Man- 
yara  and  Mrera.  But  judicious  attendance  and  Dover's  pow- 
ders brought  the  boy  around  again. 

Mrera,  in  Ukonongo,  nine  days  southwest  of  the  Gom.be 
Xullah,  brought  to  our  minds  the  jungle  habitats  of  the 
Wawkwere  on  the  coast,  and  an  ominous  sight  to  travelers 
were  the  bleached  skulls  of  men  which  adorned  the  tops  of 
tall  poles  before  the  gates  of  the  village.  The  Sultan  of 
Mrera  and  myself  became  fast  friends  after  he  had  tasted  of 
my  liberality. 

After  a  halt  of  three  days  at  this  village,  for  the  benefit  of 
the  Arab  boy,  we  proceeded  westerly,  with  the  understanding 
that  we  should  behold  the  waters  of  the  Tanganyika  within 
ten  days.  Traversing  a  dense  forest  of  young  trees  we  came 
to  a  plain  dotted  with  scores  of  ant-hills.  Their  uniform 
height,  about  seven  feet  high  above  the  plain,  leads  me  to 
believe  that  they  were  constructed  during  an  unusually  wet 
season,  and  when  the  country  was  inundated  for  a  long  time 
in  consequence.  The  surface  of  the  plain  also  bore  the 
appearance  of  being  subject  to  such  inundations.  Beyond 
this  plain  about  four  miles,  we  came  to  a  running  stream  of 
purest  water — a  most  welcome  sight  after  so  many  months 
spent  by  brackish  pools  and  nauseous  swamps. 

Crossing  the  stream,  which  ran  northwest,  we  immediately 
ascended  a  steep  and  lofty  ridge,  whence  we  obtained  a  view 
of  grand  and  imposing  mountains,  of  isolated  hills,  rising 
sheer  to  great  heights  from  a  plain  stretching  far  into  the 
heart  of  Ufipa,  cut  up  by  numerous  streams  flowing  into  the 
Rungwa  River,  which  during  the  rainy  season  overflows  this 
plain  and  forms  the  lagoon  set  down  by  Speke  as  the  Rikwa. 
The  sight  was  encouraging  in  the  extreme,  for  it  was  not  to 
be  doubted  now  that  we  were  near  the  Tanganyika.  "Wo 
continued  still  westward,  crossing  many  a  broad  stretch  of 
marsh  and  oozy  bed  of  mellahs,  whence  rose  the  streams  that 
formed  the  Rungwa  some  forty  miles  south. 

At  a  camping  place  beyond  Mrera,  we  heard  enough  from 


464:  DOXKEY  ATTACKED  BY  A  LEOPARD. 

some  natives  who  visited  us  to  assure  us  that  we  were  rush- 
ing to  our  destruction  if  we  still  kept  westward.  After 
receiving  hints  of  how  to  evade  the  war-stricken  country  in 
our  front,  we  took  a  road  leading  north-northwest.  While 
continuing  on  this  course  we  crossed  streams  running  to  the 
Kungwa  south,  and  others  running  directly  north  to  the  Mal- 
aga razi,  from  either  side  of  a  length y  ridge  which  served  to 
separate  the  country  of  Unyamwezi  from  Ukawendi.  We 
were  also  attracted  for  the  first  time  by  the  lofty  and  tapering 
moule  tree,  used  on  the  Tanganyika  Lake  for  the  canoes  of 
the  natives  who  dwell  on  its  shores. 

The  banks  of  the  numerous  streams  were  lined  with  dense 
growths  of  these  shapely  trees,  as  well  as  of  sycamore,  and 
gigantic  tamarinds,  which  rivalled  the  largest  sycamore  in 
their  breadth  of  shade.  The  undergrowth  of  bushes  and  tall 
grass,  dense  and  impenetrable,  likely  resorts  of  leopard  and 
lion  and  wild  boar,  were  enough  to  appall  the  stoutest  heart. 
One  of  my  donkeys,  while  being  driven  to  water  along  a 
narrow  path,  hedged  by  the  awesome  brake  on  either  side, 
was  attacked  by  a  leopard,  which  fastened  its  fangs  in  the 
poor  animals  neck,  and  it  would  have  made  short  work  of  it 
had  not  its  companions  set  up  such  a  braying  chorus  as 
might  well  have  terrified  a  score  of  leopards.  And  that  same 
night,  while  encamped  contiguous  to  that  limpid  stream  of 
Mtambu,  with  that  lofty  line  of  enormous  trees  rising  dark 
and  awful  above  us,  the  lions  issued  from  the  brakes  beneath 
and  prowled  about  the  well-set  bush  defence  of  our  camp, 
venting  their  fearful  clamor  without  intermissionnntil  morn- 
ing. Towards  daylight  they  retreated  to  their  leafy  cav- 
erns, for 

There  the  lion  dwells,  the  monarch, 

Mightiest  among  the  brutes; 
There  his  right  to  reign  supremest, 

Never  one  his  claim  disputes. 
There  he  layeth  down  to  slumber, 

Having  slain  and  ta'en  his  till, 
There  he  roameth,  there  he  croucheth, 

As  it  suits  his  lordly  will. 


A  PICTURE  OF  THE  FUTURE.  467 

And  few,  I  believe,  would  venture  therein  to  dispute  it ;  not 
I,  "  i'faith  "  when  searching  after  Livingstone. 

Our  camps  by  these  thick  belts  of  timber,  peopled  as  they 
were  with  the  wild  beasts,  my  men  never  fancied.  But 
Southern  Ukawendi,  with  its  fair,  lovely  valleys  and  pellucid 
streams,  nourishing  vegetation  to  extravagant  growth,  density 
and  height,  is  infested  with  troubles  of  this  kind.  And  it  is 
probable,  from  the  spread  of  this  report  among  the  natives, 
that  this  is  the  cause  of  the  scant  population  of  one  of  the 
loveliest  countries  Africa  can  boast.  The  fairest  of  Califor- 
nia scenery  cannot  excel,  though  it  may  equal,  such  scenes 
as  Ukawendi  can  boast  of,  and  yet  a  land  as  large  as  the  Stato 
of  New  York  is  almost  uninhabited.  Days  and  days  one 
may  travel  through  primeval  forests,  now  ascending  ridges 
overlooking  broad,  well  watered  valleys,  with  belts  of  valua- 
ble timber  crowning  the  banks  of  the  rivers,  and  behold 
exquisite  bits  of  scenery — wild,  fantastic,  picturesque  and 
pretty — all  within  the  scope  of  vision  whichever  way  one 
may  turn.  And  to  crown  the  glories  of  this  lovely  portion 
of  earth,  underneath  the  surface  but  a  few  feet  is  one  mass  of 
iron  ore,  extending  across  three  degrees  of  longitude  and 
nearly  four  of  latitude,  cropping  out  at  intervals,  so  that  the 
traveler  cannot  remain  ignorant  of  the  wealth  lying  beneath. 

Ah,  me !  What  wild  and  ambitious  projects  fill  a  man's 
brain  as  he  looks  over  the  forgotten  and  unpeopled  country, 
containing  in  its  bosom  such  store  of  wealth,  and  with  such 
an  expanse  of  fertile  soil,  capable  of  sustaining  millions! 
What  a  settlement  one  could  have  in  this  valley  !  See,  it  is 
broad  enough  to  support  a  large  population  !  Fancy  a  church 
spire  rising  where  that  tamarind  rears  its  dark  crown  of  foli- 
age, and  think  how  well  a  score  or  so  of  pretty  cottages 
would  look,  instead  of  those  thorn  clumps  and  gum  trees ! 
Fancy  this  lovely  valley  teeming  with  herds  of  cattle  and 
fields  of  corn,  spreading  to  the  right  and  left  of  this  stream ! 
How  much  better  would  such  a  state  become  this  valley, 
rather  than  its  present  deserted  and  wild  aspect ! 

Not  be  hopeful.     The  day  will  come  and  a  future  year 


468  MORE  TROUBLE  BREWING. 


see  it,  when  happier  lands  have  become  crowded  and 
nations  have  become  so  overgrown  that  they  have  no  room 
to  turn  about.  It  only  needs  an  Abraham  or  a  Lot,  an  Alaric 
or  an  Attila  to  lead  their  hosts  to  this  land,  which,  perhaps, 
has  been  wisely  reserved  for  such  a  time. 

After  the  warning  so  kindly  given  by  the  natives  soon 
after  leaving  Mrera,  in  Ukonongo,  five  days'  marches  brought 
us  to  Mrera,  in  the  district  of  Kusawa,  in  Ukawendi.  Arri- 
ving here  we  questioned  the  natives  as  to  the  best  course  to 
pursue  —  should  we  make  direct  for  the  Tanganyika  or  go 
north  to  the  Malagarazi  Kiver  ?  They  advised  us  to  the  lat- 
ter course,  though  no  Arab  had  ever  taken  it.  Two  days 
through  the  forest,  they  said,  would  enable  us  to  reach  the 
Malagarazi. 

The  guide,  who  had  by  this  time  forgotten  our  disagree- 
ment, endorsed  this  opinion,  as  beyond  the  Malagarazi 
he  was  sufficiently  qualified  to  show  the  way.  "We  laid  in  a 
stock  of  four-days'  provisions  against  contingencies,  and  bid- 
ding farewell  to  the  hospitable  people  of  Rusawa,  continued 
our  journey  northward.  After  finding  a  pass  to  the  wooded 
plateau  above  Mrera,  through  the  arc  of  mountains  which 
environed  it  on  the  north  and  west,  the  soldiers  improved 
another  occasion  to  make  themselves  disagreeable. 

One  of  their  number  had  shot  a  buffalo  towards  night,  and 
the  approaching  darkness  had  prevented  him  from  following 
it  up  to  a  clump  of  jungle,  whither  it  had  gone  to  die,  and 
the  black  soldiers,  ever  on  the  lookout  for  meat,  came  to  me 
in  a  body,  to  request  a  day's  halt  to  eat  meat  and  make  them- 
selves strong  for  the  forest  road,  to  which  I  gave  a  point- 
blank  refusal,  as  I  vowed  I  would  not  halt  again  until  I  did 
it  on  the  banks  of  the  Malagarazi,  where  I  would  give  them 
as  much  meat  as  their  hearts  could  desire.  There  was  an 
evident  disposition  to  resist  ;  but  I  held  up  a  warning  finger, 
as  an  indication  that  I  would  not  suffer  any  grumbling,  and 
told  them  I  had  business  at  Ujiji,  which  the  "Wasungu 
expected  I  would  attend  to,  and  that  if  I  failed  to  perform 
it  they  would  take  no  excuse,  but  condemn  me  at  once. 


THE  CARAVAN  IN  DISTRESS.  469 

I  saw  that  they  were  in  an  excellent  mood  to  rebel,  and 
the  guide,  who  seemed  to  be  ever  on  the  lookout  to  revenge 
his  humiliation  on  the  Gombe,  was  a  fit  man  to  lead  them ; 
but  they  knew  I  had  more  than  a  dozen  men  upon  whom  I 
could  rely  at  a  crisis,  and  besides,  as  no  harsh  word  or  offen- 
sive epithet  challenged  them  to  commence  an  outbreak,  the 
order  to  march,  though  received  with  much  peevishness,  was 
obeyed. 

This  peevishness  may  always  be  expected  when  on  a  long 
march.  It  is  much  the  result  of  fatigue  and  monotony,  every 
day  being  but  a  repetition  of  previous  days,  and  a  prudent 
man  will  not  pay  much  attention  to  mere  growling  and  surli- 
ness of  temper,  but  keep  himself  prepared  for  an  emergency 
which  might  possibly  arise.  By  the  time  we  had  arrived  at 
camp  we  were  all  in  excellent  humor  with  one  another,  and 
confidently  laughed  and  shouted  until  the  deep  woods  rang 
again. 

The  scenery  was  getting  more  sublime  every  day  as  we 
advanced  northward,  even  approaching  the  terrible.  We 
seemed  to  have  left  the  monotony  of  a  desert,  for  the  wild, 
picturesque  scenery  of  Abyssinia  and  the  terrible  mountains 
of  the  Sierra  Nevadas.  I  named  one  tabular  mountain,  which 
recalled  memories  of  the  Abyssinian  campaign,  Magdala,  and 
as  I  gave  it  a  place  on  my  chart  it  became  of  great  use  to  me, 
as  it  rose  so  prominently  into  view  that  I  was  enabled  to  lay 
down  our  route  pretty  accurately. 

The  four  days'  provisions  we  had  taken  with  us  were  soon 
consumed,  and  still  we  were  far  from  the  Malagarazi  River. 
Though  we  eked  out  our  own  stores  with  great  care,  as  ship- 
wrecked men  at  sea,  these  also  gave  out  on  the  sixth  day,  and 
still  the  Malagarazi  was  not  in  sight.  The  country  was  get- 
ting more  difficult  for  travel,  owing  to  the  numerous  ascents 
and  descents  we  had  to  make  in  the  course  of  a  day's  march. 
Bleached  and  bare,  it  was  cut  up  by  a  thousand  deep  ravines, 
and  intersected  by  a  thousand  dry  water  courses,  whose  beds 
were  filled  with  immense  sandstone  rocks  and  boulders  washed 
away  from  the  great  heights  which  rose  above  us  on  every 


470  A  VILLAGE  ON  A  MOUNTAIN. 

side.  We  were  not  protected  now  by  the  shades  of  the  forest, 
and  the  heat  became  excessive  and  water  became  scarce. 

But  we  still  held  on  our  way,  as  a  halt  would  be  death  to 
us,  hoping  that  each  day's  march  would  bring  us  in  sight  of 
the  long-looked  for  and  mnch-desired  Malagarazi.  Fortunately, 
we  had  filled  our  bags  and  baskets  with  the  forest  peaches 
with  which  the  forests  of  Rusawa  had  supplied  us,  and  these 
sustained  us  in  this  extremity. 

On  the  seventh  day,  after  a  six  hours'  inarch,  during  which 
we  had  descended  more  than  a  thousand  feet,  through  rocky 
ravines,  and  over  miles  of  rocky  plateaus,  above  which  pro- 
truded masses  of  hematite  of  iron,  we  arrived  at  a  happy 
camping  place,  situated  in  a  valley  which  was  seductively 
pretty,  and  a  hidden  garden.  Deserted  bomas  told  us  that 
it  had  once  been  occupied,  and  that  at  a  recent  date,  which 
we  took  to  be  a  sign  that  we  were  not  far  from  habited  dis- 
tricts. Before  retiring  to  sleep,  the  soldiers  indulged  them- 
selves in  prayer  to  Allah  for  relief.  Indeed,  our  position  was 
most  desperate  and  unenviable ;  yet,  since  leaving  the  coast 
when  had  it  been  enviable,  and  when  had  traveling  in  Africa 
ever  been  enviable  ? 

Proceeding  on  our  road  on  the  eighth  day,  everything  we 
saw  tended  to  confirm  us  in  the  belief  that  food  was  at  hand. 
Rhinoceros  tracks  abounded,  and  the  lois  de  vache,  or  buffalo 
droppings,  were  frequent,  and  the  presence  of  a  river  or  a 
body  of  water  was  known  in  the  humidity  of  the  atmosphere. 
After  traveling  two  hours,  still  descending  rapidly  towards 
a  deep  basin  which  we  saw,  the  foremost  of  the  expedition 
halted,  attracted  by  the  sight  of  a  village  situated  on  a  table- 
topped  mountain  on  our  right.  The  guide  told  us  it  must  be 
that  of  the  Son  of  Nzogera,  of  Uvinza.  We  followed  a  road 
leading  to  the  foot  of  the  mountain,  and  camped  on  the  edge 
of  an  extensive  morass. 

Though  we  fired  guns  to  announce  our  arrival,  it  was 
unnecessary,  for  the  people  were  already  hurrying  to  our 
camps  to  inquire  about  our  intentions.  The  explanation  was 
satisfactory,  but  they  said  that  they  had  taken  us  to  be  ene- 


PAYING  TRIBUTE— A  NATURAL  BRIDGE. 


471 


mies — few  friends  having  ever  come  along  our  road.  In  a 
few  minutes  there  was  an  abundance  of  meat  and  grain  in 
the  camp,  and  the  men's  jaws  were  busy  in  the  process  of 
mastication. 

During  the  whole  of  the  afternoon  we  were  engaged  upon 
the  terms  Nzogera's  son  exacted  for  the  privilege  of  passing 
through  his  country.  We  found  him  to  be  the  first  of  a 
tribute-taking  tribe,  which  subsequently  made  much  havoc  in 
the  bales  of  the  expedition.  Seven  and  a  half  doti  of  cloth 
were  what  we  were  compelled  to  pay,  whether  we  returned 
or  proceeded  on  our  way. 


SHAW. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 
FROM  UVINZA  TO  UJIJI. 

AFTER  a  days  halt,  we  proceeded,  under  the  guidance  of 
two  men  granted  to  me  as  qualified  to  lead  us  to  the  Mala- 
garazi  River.  We  had  to  go  east-northeast  for  a  considerable 
time,  in  order  to  avoid  the  morass  that  lay  directly  across  the 
country  that  intervened  between  the  triangular  mountain  on 
whose  top  Nzogera's  son  dwelt.  This  marsh  drains  three 
extensive  ranges  of  mountains  which,  starting  from  the  west- 
ward, separated  only  by  two  deep  chasms  from  each  other, 
run  at  wide  angles — one  southeast,  one  northeast,  and  the 
other  northwest.  From  a  distance  this  marsh  looks  fair 
enough ;  stately  trees  at  intervals  rise  seemingly  from  its 
bosom,  and  between  them  one  catches  glimpses  of  a  lovely 
champaign,  bounded  by  perpendicular  mountains,  in  the  far 
distance.  After  a  wide  detour  we  struck  straight  for  this 
marsh,  which  presented  to  us  another  novelty  in  the  water- 
shed of  the  Tanganyika. 

Fancy  a  river  broad  as  the  Hudson  at  Albany,  though  not 
near  so  deep  or  swift,  covered  over  by  water  plants  and 
grasses,  which  had  become  so  interwoven  and  netted  together 
as  to  form  a  bridge  covering  its  entire  length  and  breadth, 
under  which  the  river  flowed  calm  and  deep  below.  It  was 
over  this  natural  bridge  we  were  expected  to  cross.  Adding 
to  the  tremor  which  one  naturally  felt  at  having  to  cross  this 
frail  bridge,  was  the  tradition  that  only  a  few  yards  higher  up 
an  Arab  and  his  donkey,  thirty-five  slaves  and  sixteen  tusks 

of  ivory  had  suddenly  sunk  forever  out  of  sight. 

472 


"DO,  DARE  AND  ENDURE."  473 

As  one-half  of  our  little  column  had  already  arrived  at 
the  center,  we  on  the  shore  could  see  the  network  of  grass 
waving  on  either  side  and  between  each  man,  in  one  place 
like  the  swell  of  a  sea  after  a  storm  and  in  another  like  a 
small  lake  violently  ruffled  by  a  squall.  Hundreds  of  yards 
away  from  it,  ruffled  and  undulated  one  wave  after  another. 

As  we  all  got  on  it  we  perceived  it  to  sink  about  a  foot, 
forcing  the  water  on  which  it  rested  into  the  grassy  channel 
formed  by  our  footsteps.  One  of  my  donkeys  broke  through 
and  it  required  the  united  strength  of  ten  men  to  extricate 
him.  The  aggregate  weight  of  the  donkey  and  men  caused 
that  portion  of  the  bridge  on  which  they  stood  to  sink  about 
two  feet,  and  a  circular  pool  of  water  was  formed,  and  I 
expected  every  minute  to  see  them  suddenly  sink  out  of  sight. 
Fortunately  we  managed  to  cross  the  treacherous  bridge  with- 
out accident. 

Arriving  on  the  other  side,  we  struck  north,  passing  through 
a  delightful  country,  in  every  way  suitable  for  agricultural 
settlements  or  happy  mission  stations.  The  primitive  rock 
began  to  show  itself  anew  in  eccentric  clusters,  as  a  flat-topped 
rock,  on  which  the  villages  of  the  Wavinza  were  seen,  and 
where  the  natives  prided  themselves  on  their  security  and 
conducted  themselves  accordingly,  ever  insolent  and  forward, 
though  I  believe  that  with  forty  good  rifles  I  could  have 
made  the  vain  fellows  desert  their  country  en  masse.  But  a 
white  traveler's  motto  in  their  lands  is,  "Do,  dare  and 
endure,"  and  those  who  come  out  of  Africa  alive  have  gener- 
ally to  thank  themselves  for  their  prudence  rather  than  their 
temerity.  "We  were  halted  every  two  or  three  miles  by  the 
demand  for  tribute,  which  we  did  not,  because  we  could  not, 
pay,  and  they  did  not  press  it  overmuch,  though  we  had  black 
looks  enough. 

On  the  second  day  after  leaving  Nzogera's  son,  we  commen- 
ced a  series  of  descents,  the  deep  valleys  on  each  side  of  us 
astonishing  us  by  their  profundity  ;  and  the  dark  gloom  pre- 
v^iling  below,  amid  their  wonderful  dense  forests  of  tall  trees, 
ana  glimpses  of  plains  beyond,  invited  sincere  admiration. 


4:74:  NEGOTIATING  WITH  THE  SULTAN. 

In  about  a  couple  of  hours  we  discovered  the  river  we  were 
looking  for  below,  at  the  distance  of  a  mile,  rnnnirig  like  a 
silver  vein  through  a  broad  valley.  Halting  at  Kiala's,  eldest 
son  of  Nzogera,  the  principal  sultan  of  Uvinza,  we  waited  an 
hour  to  see  on  what  terms  he  would  ferry  us  over  the  Mala- 
garazi. 

As  we  could  not  come  to  a  definite  conclusion  respecting 
them,  we  were  obliged  to  camp  in  his  village.  Late  in  the 
afternoon  Kiala  sent  his  chiefs  to  our  camp  with  a  bundle  of 
short  sticks,  fifty-six  in  number.  Each  stick,  we  were  soon 
informed,  represented  a  doti,  or  four  yards  of  cloth,  which 
were  to  consist  of  best,  good,  bad  and  indifferent.  Only 
one  bale  of  cloth  was  the  amount  of  the  tribute  to  be  exact- 
ed of  us ! 

Bombay  and  the  guide  were  told  by  me  to  inform  Kiala's 
ambassadors  that  I  would  pay  ten  doti.  The  gentlemen  del- 
egated by  Kiala  to  receive  the  tribute,  soon  made  us  aware 
what  thoughts  they  entertained  of  us,  by  stating  that  if  we 
ran  away  from  Mirambo,  we  could  not  run  away  from  them. 
Indeed,  such  was  the  general  opinion  of  the  natives  of  Uvin- 
za ;  for  they  live  directly  west  of  Uyowa,  Mirambo's  country, 
and  news  travels  fast  enough  in  these  regions,  though  there 
are  no  established  post  offices  or  telegraph  stations. 

In  two  hours,  however,  we  reduced  the  demand  of  fifty-six 
doti  to  twenty-three,  and  the  latter  number  was  sent  and 
received,  not  for  crossing  the  Malagarazi,  but  for  the  privilege 
of  passing  through  Okidla's  country  in  peace.  Of  these 
twenty-three  cloths,  thirteen  were  sent  to  Nzogera,  the  sultan, 
while  his  affectionate  son  retained  ten  for  himself. 

Towards  midnight,  about  retiring  for  the  night  after  such 
an  eventful  day,  while  congratulating  ourselves  that  Nzogera 
and  Kiala  were  both  rather  moderate  in  their  demands,  con- 
sidering the  circumstances,  came  another  demand  for  four 
more  cloths,  with  a  promise  that  we  might  depart  in  the  mor- 
ning, or  when  we  pleased ;  but  as  poor  Bombay  said,  from 
sheer  weariness,  that  if  we  had  to  talk  longer  he  would  be 
driven  mad,  I  told  him  he  might  pay  them,  after  a  little  hag- 


CROSSING  THE  RIVER.  475 

gling,  least  they,  imagining  that  they  had  asked  too  little, 
would  make  another  demand  in  the  morning. 

Until  three  o'clock  P.  M.  the  following  day  continued  the 
negotiations  for  ferrying  us  across  the  Malagarazi,  consisting 
of  arguments,  threats,  quarrels,  loud  shouting  and  stormy 
debate  on  both  sides.  Finally,  six  doti  and  ten  f  undo  of  sami- 
sami  beads  were  agreed  upon.  After  which  we  marched  to 
the  ferry,  distant  half  a  mile  from  the  scene  of  so  much  con- 
tention. The  river  at  this  place  was  not  more  than  thirty 
yards  broad,  sluggish  and  deep  ;  yet  I  would  prefer  attempt- 
ing to  cross  the  Mississippi  by  swimming,  rather  than  the 
Malagarazi.  Such  another  river  for  the  crocodiles,  cruel  as 
death,  I  cannot  conceive.  Their  long,  tapering  heads  dotted 
the  river  everywhere,  and  though  I  amused  myself,  pelting 
them  with  two-ounce  balls,  I  made  no  effect  on  their  numbers. 

Two  canoes  had  discharged  their  live  cargo  on  the  other 
side  of  the  river,  when  the  story  of  Captain  Burton's  passage 
across  the  Malagarazi  higher  up,  was  brought  vividly  to  my 
mind  by  the  extortions  which  the  mutware  now  commenced. 

About  twenty  or  so  of  his  men  had  collected,  and,  backed 
by  these,  he  became  insolent.  If  it  were  worth  while  to 
commence  a  struggle  for  two  or  three  more  doti  of  cloth  the 
mere  firing  of  one  revolver  at  such  close  quarters  would  have 
settled  the  day ;  but  I  could  not  induce  myself  to  believe  that 
it  was  the  best  way  of  proceeding,  taking  in  view  the  object 
of  our  expedition,  and  accordingly  this  extra  demand  was  set- 
tled at  once  with  as  much  amiability  as  I  could  muster ;  but  I 
warned  him  not  to  repeat  it,  and,  to  prevent  him  from  doing 
so,  I  ordered  a  man  to  each  canoe,  to  be  seated  there  with 
a  loaded  gun  in  each  man's  hands. 

After  this  little  episode  we  got  on  very  well  until  all  the 
men  excepting  two,  besides  Bombay  and  myself,  were  safe  on 
the  other  side. 

"We  then  drove  a  donkey  into  the  river,  having  first  tied  a 
strong  halter  to  his  neck ;  but  he  had  barely  reached  the  mid- 
dle of  the  river  when  a  crocodile,  darting  beneath,  seized  him 
by  the  neck  and  dragged  him  under,  after  several  frantic  but 


476  A  CROCODILE  DINES  OX  DONKEY. 

ineffectual  endeavors  to  draw  him  ashore.  A  sadness  stole 
over  all  after  witnessing  this  scene,  and  as  the  shades  of  night 
had  now  drawn  around  us,  and  had  tinged  the  river  to  a 
black,  dismal  color,  it  was  with  a  feeling  of  relief  that  the 
fatal  river  was  crossed,  that  we  all  set  foot  ashore. 

In  the  morning  the  other  donkey  swam  the  river  safe 
enough,  the  natives  firmly  declaring  that  they  had  so  covered 
him  with  medicine,  that  though  the  crocodiles  swarmed 
around  him  they  did  not  dare  attack  the  animal,  so  potent 
was  the  medicine — for  which  I  had  to  give  a  present,  such  as 
became  a  kindness.  I  rather  incline  to  the  belief,  however, 
that  the  remaining  donkey  owed  his  safety  to  the  desertion 
of  the  river  for  the  banks,  where  they  love  to  bask  in  the 
sun  undisturbed,  as  the  neighborhood  of  the  ferry  was  con- 
stantly disturbed,  and  the  donkey  consequently  escaped  the 
jaws  of  the  crocodiles. 

The  notes  in  my  journal  of  what  occurred  on  the  following 
day  read  as  follows — 

KATALAMBTTLA,  1ST.  N.  W.,  1-J  hours.  ) 
November  3d,  Friday,  1871.  J 

"What  talk !  What  excitement,  so  grotesque,  yet  so  fren- 
zied !  Withal  what  anxiety  have  we  suffered  since  we  came 
to  Uvinza !  These  people  are  worse  than  the  Wagogs,  and 
their  greed  is  immeasurable.  They  are  more  noisy  and 
intolerable,  especially  those  who  dwell  close  to  the  river. 
Their  pride,  the  guide  says,  is  because  they  have  possession 
of  the  river,  and  all  men  have  to  speak  them  fair,  pay  high 
tribute,  etc.  On  the  northern  side,  though,  I  find  the 
Wavinza  more  amiable  and  more  favorably  disposed  towards 
caravans,  because  they  bring  terms,  and  might  on  a  pinch 
help  them  against  their  cruel  neighbors,  the  Watuta. 
Before  crossing  the  river  a  native  guide,  procured  from 
the  son  of  Nzogera,  who  lives  on  the  frontier,  was  recog- 
nized as  a  spy  in  the  service  of  Lokandamira,  who  is  at  war 
against  King  Nzogera.  The  cry  for  rope  to  bind  him 
was  quickly  responded  to,  for  every  tree  in  their  vicinity 
was  furnished  with  enough  strong  bark  to  tie  a  dozen 


A  CARAVAN  FROM  UJIJL  479 

spies.  They  afterwards  conveyed  him  to  Kwi-Kuru,  or  the 
capital  of  Nzogera,  which  is  situated  a  few  miles  below  here, 
on  an  island  well  guarded  by  crocodiles.  Lokandamira  is  at 
war  with  Nzogera  about  certain  salt-pans  which  must,  of 
course,  belong  to  the  strongest  party,  for  might  is  right  in  this 
world. 

We  set  out  from  the  banks  of  the  river  with  two  new 
guides,  furnished  us  by  the  old  man  (Usenge  is  his  name)  of 
the  ferry.  Arriving  at  Isinga  after  traversing  a  saline  plain, 
which,  as  we  advanced  into  the  interior,  grew  wonderfully 
fertile,  we  were  told  by  the  native  Kirangozi  that  to-morrow's 
inarch  would  have  to  be  made  with  great  caution,  for 
Makumbi,  a  great  warrior  chief  of  Nzogera,  was  returning 
triumphantly  from  war,  and  it  was  his  custom  to  leave  noth- 
ing behind  him  at  such  times.  Intoxicated  with  victory,  he 
attacked  villages  and  caravans,  and  of  whatever  live  stock, 
slaves  or  bales  he  met,  he  took  what  he  liked.  The  result 
of  a  month's  campaign  against  Lokandamira,  were  two  villages 
captured,  several  men  and  a  son  of  Nzogera's  enemy  being 
killed,  while  Makumbi  only  lost  three  men  in  battle  and  two 
from  drinking  too  much  water.  So  the  Kirangozi  says. 

Near  Isinga,  met  a  caravan  of  eighty  waguhha  direct  from 
Ujiji,  bearing  oil,  and  bound  for  Unyanyembe.  They  report 
that  a  white  man  was  left  by  them  five  days  ago  at  Ujiji. 
lie  had  the  same  color  as  I  have,  weare  the  same  shoes,  the 
same  clothes,  and  has  hair  on  his  face  like  I  have,  only  his  is 
white.  This  is  Livingstone.  Hurrah  for  Ujiji !  My  men 
share  my  joy,  for  we  shall  be  coming  back  now  directly ; 
and,  being  so  happy  at  the  prospect,  I  buy  three  goats  and 
five  gallons  of  native  beer,  which  will  be  eaten  and  drank 
directly." 

Two  marches  from  Malagarazi  brought  us  to  Uhha. 
Kawanga  was  the  first  place  in  Uhha  where  we  halted.  It  is 
the  village  where  resides  the  first  mutware,  or  chief,  to  whom 
caravans  have  to  pay  tribute.  To  this  man  we  paid  twelve 
and  a  half  doti,  upon  the  understanding  that  we  would  have 
to  pay  no  more  between  here  and  Ujiji.  Next  morning, 


480  A  SLIGHT  TO  THE  KING  OF  UHHA. 

buoyed  up  by  the  hope  that  we  should  soon  come  to  our 
journey's  end,  we  had  arranged  to  make  a  long  march  of  it 
that  day. 

We  left  Kawanga  cheerfully  enough.  The  country  undu- 
lated gently  before  us  like  the  prairie  of  Nebraska,  as  devoid 
of  trees  almost  as  our  own  plains.  The  top  of  every  wave  of 
land  enabled  us  to  see  the  scores  of  villages  which  dotted  its 
surface,  though  it  required  keen  eyes  to  detect  at  a  distance 
the  bee-hive  and  straw-thatched  huts  from  the  bleached  grass 
of  the  plain. 

We  marched  an  hour,  probably,  and  were  passing  a  large 
village,  with  populous  suburbs  about  it,  when  we  saw  a  large 
party  pursuing  us,  who,  when  they  had  come  up  to  us,  asked 
us  how  we  dared  pass  by  without  paying  the  tribute  to  the 
king  of  Uhha. 

"We  have  paid  it !"  we  said  quite  astonished. 

"To  whom?" 

"  To  the  chief  of  Kawanga." 

"How  much?" 

"Twelve  and  a  half  doti." 

"Oh,  but  that  is  only  for  himself.  However,  you  had 
better  stop  and  rest  at  our  village  until  we  find  all  about  it." 

But  we  halted  in  the  middle  of  the  road  until  the  messen- 
gers they  sent  came  back.  Seeing  our  reluctance  to  halt  at 
their  village,  they  sent  men  also  to  Mionvu,  living  an  arrow's 
flight  from  where  we  were  halted,  to  warn  him  of  our  con- 
tumacy. Mionvu  came  to  us,  robed  most  royally,  after  the 
fashion  of  Central  Africa,  in  a  crimson  cloth,  arranged  toga- 
like  over  his  shoulder  and  depending  to  his  ankles,  and  a 
bran  new  piece  of  Massachusetts  sheeting  folded  around  his 
head.  He  greeted  us  graciously — he  was  the  prince  of  polite- 
ness— shook  hands  first  with  myself,  then  with  my  head  men, 
and  cast  a  keen  glance  around,  in  order,  as  I  thought,  to 
measure  our  strength.  Then  seating  himself,  he  spoke  with 
deliberation  something  in  this  style  : — 

"  Why  does  the  white  man  stand  in  the  road  ?  The  sun  is 
hot ;  let  him  seek  the  shelter  of  my  village,  where  we  can 


FLEECED  BY  MIONVU— OX  THE  VERGE  OF  RUIN.  481 

arrange  this  little  matter  between  us.  Does  tie  not  know 
that  there  is  a  king  in  TJhha,  and  that  I,  Mionvu,  am  his 
servant  ?  It  is  a  custom  with  us  to  make  friends  with  great 
men,  such  as  the  white  man.  All  Arabs  and  Wanguana  stop 
here  and  give  us  cloth.  Does  the  white  man  mean  to  go  on 
without  paying  ?  "Why  should  he  desire  war  2  I  know  he 
is  stronger  than  we  are  here,  his  men  have  guns,  and  we 
have  but  spears  and  arrows;  but  Uhha  is  large,  and  has 
plenty  of  people.  The  children  of  the  king  are  many.  If 
he  comes  to  be  a  friend  to  us  he  will  come  to  our  village, 
give  us  something,  and  then  go  on  his  way." 

The  armed  warriors  around  applauded  the  very  common- 
place speech  of  Mionvu,  because  it  spoke  the  feelings  with 
which  they  viewed  our  bales.  Certain  am  I,  though,  that 
one  portion  of  his  speech — that  which  related  to  our  being 
stronger  than  "Walilia — was  an  untruth,  and  that  he  knew  it, 
and  that  he  only  wished  us  to  start  hostilities  in  order  that 
he  might  have  good  reason  for  seizing  the  whole. 

I  submitted  to  Mionvu's  proposition,  and  went  with  him 
to  his  village,  where  he  fleeced  me  to  his  heart's  content. 
His  demand,  which  he  adhered  to  like  a  man  who  knew  what 
he  was  about,  was  sixty  doti  for  the  king,  twelve  doti  for 
himself,  three  for  his  wife,  three  each  to  three  makko,  or  sub- 
chiefs,  one  to  Mibrnri's  little  boy ;  total  eighty  five  doti,  or 
one  good  bale  of  cloth.  Not  one  doti  did  he  abate,  though 
I  talked  from  ten  A.  M.  until  six  P.  M.  I  went  to  bed  that 
night  like  a  man  on  the  verge  of  ruin.  However,  Mionvu 
said  that  we  would  have  to  pay  no  more  in  TJhha. 

Pursuing  our  way  next  day,  after  a  four  hours'  march,  we 
came  to  Kahirigi,  and  quartered  ourselves  in  a  large  village, 
governed  over  by  Mionvu's  brother,  who  had  already  been 
advised  by  Mionvu  of  the  windfall  in  store-  for  him.  This 
man,  as  soon  as  we  had  set  the  tent,  put  in  a  claim  for  thirty 
doti,  which  I  was  able  to  reduce  after  much  eloquence,  last- 
ing over  five  hours,  to  twenty-six  doti.  I  am  short  enough 
in  relating  it  because  I  am  tired  of  the  theme ;  but  there  lives 
not  a  man  in  the  whole  United  States  with  whom  I  would 
25 


482  A  NIGHT  MARCH. 

not  have  gladly  exchanged  positions  had  it  been  possible.  1 
saw  my  fine  array  of  bales  being  reduced  fast.  Four  more 
such  demands  as  Miouvu's,  would  leave  me,  in  unclassic 
phrase,  "  cleaned  out." 

After  paying  this  last  tribute,  as  it  was  night,  I  closed  my 
tent  and,  lighting  my  pipe,  began  to  think  seriously  upon  my 
position  and  how  to  reach  Ujiji  without  paying  more  tribute. 
It  was  high  time  to  resort  either  to  battle  or  to  strategy  of 
some  kind,  possibly,  to  striking  into  the  jungle ;  but  there 
was  no  jungle  in  Uhha,  and  a  man  might  be  seen  miles  off  on 
its  naked  plains.  At  least  this  last  was  the  plan  most 
likely  to  succeed,  without  endangering  the  prospects  almost 
within  reach  of  the  expedition. 

Calling  the  guide,  I  questioned  him  as  to  its  feasibility, 
first  scolding  him  for  leading  me  to  such  a  strait.  He 
said  there  was  a  Mguana,  a  slave  of  Thani  Bin  Abdullah,  in 
the  Coma,  with  whom  I  might  consult.  Sending  for  him, 
he  presently  came,  and  I  began  to  ask  him  for  how  much  he 
would  guide  us  out  of  Uhha  without  being  compelled  to  pay 
any  more  muhongo. 

He'  replied  that  it  was  a  hard  thing  to  do,  unless  I  had 
complete  control  over  my  men  and  they  could  be  got  to  do 
exactly  as  I  told  them.  When  satisfied  on  this  point  he 
entered  into  an  agreement  to  show  me  a  road — or  rather  to 
lead  me  to  it — that  might  be  clear  of  all  habitations  as  far  as 
Ujiji,  for  twelve  doti,  paid  beforehand.  The  cloth  was  paid 
to  him  at  once. 

At  half -past  two  A.  M.  the  men  were  ready,  and,  stealing 
silently  past  the  huts,  the  guide  opened  the  gates,  and  we 
filed  out  one  by  one  as  quietly  as  possible.  The  moon  was 
bright,  and  by  it  we  perceived  that  we  were  striking  across 
a  burned  plain  in  a  southerly  direction,  and  then  turned  west- 
ward, parallel  with  the  high  road,  at  the  distance  of  four 
miles,  sometimes  lessening  or  increasing  that  distance  as  cir- 
cumstances compelled  us. 

At  dawn  we  crossed  the  swift  Kusizi,  which  flowed  south- 
ward into  the  Malagarazi,  after  which  we  took  a  northwesterly 


A  WOMAN'S  FREAK— HER  HUSBAND'S  THREAT.  483 

direction  through  a  thick  jungle  of  bamboo.  There  was  no 
road,  and  behind  us  we  left  but  little  trail  on  the  hard,  dry- 
ground.  At  eight  A.  M.  we  halted  for  breakfast,  having 
inarched  nearly  six  hours  within  the  jungle  which  stretched 
for  miles  around  ns. 

We  were  only  once  on  the  point  of  being  discovered 
through  the  mad  freak  of  a  weak-brained  woman,  who  was 
the  wife  of  one  of  the  black  soldiers.  We  were  crossing  the 
knee-deep  Rusizi,  when  this  woman,  suddenly  and  without 
cause,  took  it  into  her  head  to  shriek  and  shout  as  if  a  croco- 
dile had  bitten  her.  The  guide  implored  me  to  stop  her 
shrieking,  or  she  would  alarm  the  whole  country,  and  we 
would  have  hundreds  of  angry  Wahha  about  us.  The  men 
were  already  preparing  to  bolt — several  being  on  the  run 
with  their  loads. 

At  my  order  to  stop  her  noise,  she  launched  into  another 
fit  of  hysterical  shrieking,  and  I  was  compelled  to  stop  her 
cries  with  three  or  four  smart  cuts  across  her  .shoulders, 
though  I  felt  rather  ashamed  of  myself;  but  our  lives  and  the 
success  of  the  expedition  was  worth  more,  in  my  opinion, 
than  a  hundred  of  such  women.  As  a  further  precaution 
she  was  gagged  and  her  arms  tied  behind  her,  and  a  cord  led 
from  her  waist  to  that  of  her  liege  lord's,  who  gladly  took 
upon  himself  the  task  of  looking  after  her,  and  who  threat- 
ened to  cut  her  head  off  if  she  attempted  to  make  another 
outcry. 

At  ten  A.M.  we  resumed  our  journey,  and  after  three  hours 
camped  at  Lake  Musuma,  a  body  of  water  which  during  the 
rainy  season,  has  a  length  of  three  miles  and  a  breadth  of  two 
miles.  It  is  one  of  a  group  of  lakes  which  fill  deep  hollows 
in  the  plain  of  Uhha.  They  swarm  with  hippopotami,  and 
their  shores  are  favorite  resorts  of  large  herds  of  buffalo  and 
game.  The  eland  and  buffalo  especially  are  in  large  num- 
bers here,  and  the  elephant  and  rhinoceros  are  exceedingly 
numerous.  We  saw  several  of  these,  but  did  not  dare  to  fire. 

On  the  second  morning  after  crossing  the  Sunuzzi  and 
Rngufu  Elvers,  we  had  just  started  from  our  camp,  and  as 


4S4  AN  ALARM— APPROACH  TO  UJIJI. 

there  was  no  moonlight  the  head  of  the  column  came  to  a 
village,  whose  inhabitants,  as  we  heard  a  few  voices,  were 
about  starting.  "We  were  all  struck  with  consternation ;  but, 
consulting  with  the  guide,  we  despatched  our  goats  and 
chickens,  and  leaving  them  in  the  road,  faced  about,  retraced 
our  steps,  and  after  a  quarter  of  an  hour  struck  up  a  ravine, 
and  descended  several  precipitous  places ;  about  half -past  six 
o'clock  we  found  ourselves  in  Ukaranga — safe  and  free  from 
all  tribute  taking  Wahha. 

Exultant  shouts  were  given — equivalent  to  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  hurrah — upon  our  success.  Addressing  the  men,  I 
asked  them : — 

"  "Why  should  we  halt  when  but  a  few  hours  from 
Ujiji  ?  Let  us  march  a  few  hours  more,  and  to-morrow 
we  shall  see  the  white  man  at  Ujiji,  and  who  knows  but  this 
may  be  the  man  we  are  seeking  ?  Let  us  go  on,  and  after 
to-morrow  we  shall  have  fish  for  dinner,  and  many  days'  rest 
afterwards,  every  day  eating  the  fish  of  the  Tanganyika. 
Stop  ;  I  think  I  smell  the  Tanganyika  fish  even  now." 

This  speech  was  hailed  with  what  the  newspapers  call  "  loud 
applause,  great  cheering,"  and  "  !Ngema — very  well,  master ; " 
"  Hyah  Barak- Allah — Onward,  and  the  blessing  of  God  be 
on  you." 

We  strode  from  the  frontier  at  the  rate  of  four  miles  an 
hour,  and,  after  six  hours'  march,  the  tired  caravan  entered 
the  woods  which  separate  the  residence  of  the  chief  of 
L'karanga  from  the  villages  on  the  Mkuti  River.  As  we 
drew  near  the  village  we  went  slower,  unfurled  the  Ameri- 
can and  Zanzibar  flags,  presenting  quite  an  imposing  array. 

When  we  came  in  sight  of  ISyamtaga,  the  name  of  the 
sultan's  residence,  and  our  flags  and  numerous  guns  were 
seen,  the  Wakaranga  and  their  sultan  deserted  their 
village  en  masse,  and  rushed  into  the  woods,  believing 
that  we  were  Hirambo's  robbers,  rwho,  after  destroying 
TTnyanyembe,  were  come  to  destroy  the  Arabs  and  Bunder 
of  TTjiji ;  but  he  and  his  people  were  soon  reassured,  and  came 
forward  to  welcome  us  with  presents  of  goats  and  beer,  all 


FIRST  VIEW  OF  THE  TANGANYIKA.  485 

of  winch,  were  very  welcome  after  the  exceedingly  lengthy 
marches  we  had  recently  undertaken. 

Rising  at  early  dawn  our  new  clothes  were  brought  forth 
again,  that  we  might  present  as  decent  an  appearance  as  pos- 
sible before  the  Arabs  of  Ujiji,  and  my  helmet  was  well 
chalked  and  a  new  puggeree  folded  around  it ;  my  boots  were 
well  oiled,  and  my  white  flannels  put  on,  and  altogether,  with- 
out joking,  I  might  have  paraded  the  streets  of  Bombay, 
without  attracting  any  very  great  attention. 

A  couple  of  hours  brought  us  to  the  base  of  the  hill,  from 
the  top  of  which  the  Kirangozi  said  we  could  obtain  a  view 
of  the  great  Tanganyika  Lake.  Heedless  of  the  rough  path 
or  of  the  toilsome  steep,  spurred  onward  by  the  cheery  prom- 
ise, the  ascent  was  performed  in  a  short  time.  On  arriving 
at  the  top  we  beheld  it  at  last  from  the  spot  whence,  proba- 
bly Burton  and  Speke  looked  at  it — "  the  one  in  a  half  para- 
lyzed state,  the  other  almost  blind."  Indeed,  I  was  pleased 
at  the  sight ;  and,  as  we  descended,  it  opened  more  and  more 
into  view  until  it  was  revealed  at  last  into  a  grand  inland  sea, 
bounded  westward  by  an  appalling  and  black-blue  rfenge  of 
mountains,  and  stretching  north  and  south  without  bounds,  a 
gray  expanse  of  water. 

From  the  western  base  of  the  hill  was  a  three  hours'  march, 
though  no  march  ever  passed  off  so  quickly.  The  hours 
seemed  to  have  been  quarters,  we  had  seen  so  much  that  was 
novel  and  rare  to  us  who  had  been  traveling  so  long  on  the 
highlands.  The  mountains  bounding  the  lake  on  the  east- 
ward receded  and  the  lake  advanced.  We  had  crossed  the 
Ruche,  or  Linche,  and  its  thick  belt  of  tall  matete  grass.  We 
had  plunged  into  a  perfect  forest  of  them,  and  had  entered 
into  the  cultivated  fields  which  supply  the  port  of  Ujiji  with 
vegetables,  etc.,  and  we  stood  at  last  on  the  summit  of  the 
last  hill  of  the  myriads  we  had  crossed,  and  the  port  of  Ujiji, 
embowered  in  palms,  with  the  tiny  waves  of  the  silver  waters 
of  the  Tanganyika  rolling  at  its  feet,  was  directly  below  us. 

We  are  now  about  descending — in  a  few  minutes  we  shall 
have  reached  the  spot  where  we  imagine  the  object  of  our 


486    OUR  SALUTE  TO  THE  UJUIAXS— THE  STARS  AND  STRIPES. 

search — our  fate  will  soon  be  decided.  No  one  in  that  town 
knows  we  are  coining ;  least  of  all  do  they  know  we  are  close 
to  them.  If  any  of  them  ever  heard  of  the  white  man  at 
TJnyanyembe,  they  must  believe  we  are  there  yet.  "We  shall 
take  them  all  by  surprise,  for  no  other  but  a  white  man 
would  dare  leave  Unyanyembe  for  Ujiji  with  the  country  in 
such  a  distracted  state — no  other  but  a  crazy  white  man, 
whom  Sheikh,  the  son  of  Nasib,  is  going  to  report  to  Syedor 
Prince  Burghash  for  not  taking  his  advice. 

"Well,  we  are  but  a  mile  from  Ujiji  now,  and  it  is  high 
time  we  should  let  them  know  a  caravan  is  coming;  so 
"  Commence  firing  "  is  the  word  passed  along  the  length  of 
the  column,  and  gladly  do  they  begin.  They  have  loaded 
their  muskets  half  full,  and  they  roar  like  a  broadside  of  a 
line-of-battle  ship.  Down  go  the  ramrods,  sending  home 
huge  charges  to  the  breech,  and  volley  after  volley  is  fired. 

The  flags  are  fluttered  ;  the  banner  of  America  is  in  front 
waving  joyfully  ;  the  guide  is  in  the  zenith  of  his  glory.  The 
former  residents  of  Zanzibar  will  know  it  directly,  and  will 
wonder — as  well  they  may — as  to  what  it  means.  Never 
were  the  Stars  and  Stripes  so  beautiful  to  my  mind — the 
breeze  of  the  Tanganyika  has  such  an  effect  on  them.  The 
guide  blows  his  horn,  and  the  shrill  wild  clangor  of  it  is  far 
and  near  ;  and  still  the  cannon  muskets  tell  the  noisy  seconds. 

By  this  time  the  Arabs  are  fully  alarmed  ;  the  natives  of 
Ujiji,  Waguhha,  "Warundi,  "Wanguana,  and  I  know  not  whom, 
hurry  up  by  the  hundreds  to  ask  what  it  all  means — this 
fusillading,  shouting  and  blowing  of  horns,  and  flag-flying. 
There  are  "Yambos"  shouted  out  to  me  by  the  dozen,  and 
delighted  Arabs  have  run  up  breathlessly  to  shake  my  hands 
and  ask  anxiously  where  I  came  from.  But  I  have  no 
patience  with  them.  The  expedition  goes  far  too  slow.  I 
should  like  to  settle  the  vexed  question  by  one  personal  view. 
Where  is  he  ?  Has  he  fled  ? 

Suddenly  a  man — a  black  man — at  my  elbow  shouts  in 
English  :- 

"How  do  you  sir?" 


"DR.  LIVINGSTONE,  I  PRESUME."  487 

'•  Hello  !  who  in  the  deuce  are  you  ? " 

"  I  am  the  servant  of  Dr.  Livingstone,"  he  says  ;  but  before 
I  can  ask  any  more  questions  he  is  running  like  a  madman 
towards  the  town. 

We  have  at  last  entered  the  town.  There  are  hundreds  of 
people  around  me — I  might  say  thousands  without  exagger- 
ation, it  seems  to  me.  It  is  a  grand  triumphal  procession. 
As  we  move  they  move.  All  eyes  are  drawn  towards  us. 
The  expedition  at  last  comes  to  a  halt ;  the  journey  is  ended 
for  a  time ;  but  I  alone  have  a  few  more  steps  to  make. 

There  is  a  group  of  the  most  respectable  Arabs,  and  as  I 
come  nearer  I  see  the  white  face  of  an  old  man  among  them. 
He  has  a  cap  with  a  gold  band  around  it,  his  dress  is  a  short 
jacket  of  red  blanket  cloth,  and  his  pants — well,  I  didn't 
observe.  I  am  shaking  hands  with  him.  We  raise  our  hats, 
and  I  say : — 

"  Dr.  Livingstone,  I  presume  ? " 

And  he  says,  "  Yes." 

Finis  coronat  opus. 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 
INTERCOURSE  WITH  LIVINGSTONE, 

goal  was  won.  Livingstone  was  found  ;  and  Stanley 
JL  was  his  guest  at  Ujiji.  The  solitary  bottle  of  cham- 
paign, which  had  been  brought  safely  all  the  way  from  the 
coast,  had  also  been  disposed  of  in  the  manner  which  Stanley 
had  determined  it  should  be  if  he  found  Livingstone  alive ; 
and  Livingstone,  doubtless,  relished  his  share  as  well  as  he 
did  some  wine — the  first  he  ever  drank  in  Africa — given  him 
as  a  medicine,  on  his  reaching  the  West  Coast  in  an  exhausted 
condition,  some  seventeen  years  previously. 

That  Stanley  was  gratified  and  happily  disappointed  at  the 
welcome  given  him  at  Ujiji,  there  can  be  no  doubt ;  and  from 
looking  upon  Livingstone  as  a  professional  interviewer,  intent 
only  on  obtaining  copy  for  the  journal  he  represented,  he 
soon  began  to  take  a  strong  interest  in  the  character  and 
inner  life  of  his  genial  host,  and  gives  us  his  impression  of 
them  as  follows : — 

"  We  were  met  at  last.  The  Herald? s  special  correspondent 
had  seen  Dr.  Livingstone,  whom  more  than  three-fourths  of 
all  who  had  ever  heard  of  him  believed  to  be  dead.  Yet  at 
noon,  on  the  10th  of  November  of  this  year,  I  first  shook 
hands  with  him,  and  said  to  him,  '  Doctor,  I  thank  God  I 
have  been  permitted  to  shake  hands  with  you.'  I  said  it  all 
very  soberly  and  with  due  dignity,  because  there  were  so 
many  Arabs  about  us,  and  the  circumstances  under  which  I 

appeared  did  not  warrant  me  to  do  anything  else.     I  was  as 

490 


STANLEY'S  WELCOME  AT  UJIJI.  491 

much  a  stranger  to  Livingstone  as  I  was  to  any  Arab  there. 
And,  if  Arabs  do  not  like  to  see  any  irregularity,  indeed  I 
think  that  Englishmen  must  be  placed  in  the  same  category. 

But  what  does  all  this  preface  and  what  may  this  prolixity 
mean  ?  Well,  it  means  this,  that  I  looked  upon  Livingstone 
as  an  Englishman,  and  I  feared  that  if  I  showed  any  unusual 
joy  at  meeting  with  him,  he  might  conduct  himself  very 
much  as  another  Englishman  did  once  whom  I  met  in  the 
interior  of  another  foreign  and  strange  land  wherein  we  two 
were  the  only  English-speaking  people  to  be  found  within 
the  area  of  two  hundred  miles  square,  and  who,  upon  my 
greeting  him  with  a  cordial  "  Good  morning,"  would  not 
answer  me,  but  screwed  on  a  large  eye-glass,  in  a  manner 
which  must  have  been  as  painful  to  him  as  it  was  to  me,  and 
then  deliberately  viewed  my  horse  and  myself  for  the  space 
of  about  thirty  seconds,  and  passed  on  his  way,  with  as  much 
insouciance  as  if  he  had  seen  me  a  thousand  times  and  there 
was  nothing  at  all  in  the  meeting  to  justify  him  coming  ont 
of  that  shell  of  imperturbability  with  which  he  had  covered 
himself. 

Besides,  I  had  heard  all  sorts  of  things  from  a  quondam 
companion  of  his  about  him.  He  was  eccentric,  I  was  told ; 
nay,  almost  a  misanthrope,  who  hated  the  sight  of  Europeans ; 
who,  if  Burton,  Speke,  Grant  or  anybody  of  that  kind  were 
coming  to  see  him,  would  make  haste  to  put  as  many  miles 
as  possible  between  himself  and  such  a  person.  He  was  a 
man,  also,  whom  no  one  could  get  along  with — it  was  almost 
impossible  to  please  him ;  he  was  a  man  who  kept  no  journal, 
whose  discoveries  would  certainly  perish  with  him  unless  he 
himself  came  back.  This  was  the  man  I  was  shaking  hands 
with,  whom  I  had  done  my  utmost  to  surprise,  lest  he  should 
run  away.  Consequently  you  may  know  why  I  did  not  dare 
manifest  any  extraordinary  joy  upon  my  success.  But, 
really,  had  there  been  no  one  present — none  of  those  cynical 
minded  Arabs  I  mean — I  think  I  should  have  betrayed  the 
emotions  which  possessed  me,  instead  of  which  I  only  said, 

"  Doctor,  I  thank  God  I  have  been  permitted  to  shake  hand 


492  LIVINGSTONE  AT  HOME. 

with  you."    Which  he  returned  with  a  grateful  and  welcome 
smile. 

Together  we  turned  our  faces  towards  his  tembe.  He 
pointed  to  the  veranda  of  his  house,  which  was  an  unrailed 
platform,  built  of  mud,  covered  by  wide  overhanging  eaves. 
He  pointed  to  his  own  particular  seat,  on  a  carpet  of  goat- 
skins spread  over  a  thick  mat  of  palm  leaf.  I  protested 
against  taking  his  seat,  but  he  insisted,  and  I  yielded.  "We 
were  seated,  the  Doctor  and  I,  with  our  backs  to  the  wall, 
the  Arabs  to  our  right  and  left  and  in  front,  the  natives 
forming  a  dark  perspective  beyond. 

Then  began  conversation ;  I  forget  what  about ;  possibly 
about  the  road  I  took  from  Unyanyembe,  but  I  am  not  sure. 
I  know  the  Doctor  was  talking,  and  I  was  answering 
mechanically.  I  was  conning  the  indomitable,  energetic, 
patient  and  persevering  traveler,  at  whose  side  I  now  sat  in 
Central  Africa.  Every  hair  of  his  head  and  beard,  every  line 
and  wrinkle  of  his  face,  the  wan  face,  the  fatigued  form, 
were  all  imparting  the  intelligence  to  me  which  so  many 
men  so  much  desired.  It  was  deeply  interesting  intelligence 
and  unvarnished  truths,  these  mute  but  certain  witnesses  gave. 
They  told  me  of  the  real  nature  of  the  work  in  which  he  was 
engaged. 

Then  his  lips  began  to  give  me  the  details  —  lips 
that  cannot  lie.  I  could  not  repeat  what  he  said.  He  had 
so  much  to  say  that  he  began  at  the  end,  seemingly  oblivious 
of  the  fact  that  nearly  six  years  had  to  be  accounted  for. 
But  the  story  came  out  bit  by  bit,  unreservedly — as  unreserv- 
edly as  if  he  was  conversing  with  Sir  R.  Murchison,  his  true 
friend  and  best  on  earth.  The  man's  heart  was  gushing  out, 
not  in  hurried  sentences,  in  rapid  utterances,  in  quick  relation 
— but  in  still  and  deep  words. 

His  quondam  companion  must  have  been  a  sad  student  of 
human  nature  or  a  most  malicious  person — a  man  whose 
judgment  was  distorted  by  an  oblique  glance  at  his  own 
inner  image,  and  was  thus  rendered  incapable  of  knowing 
the  great  heart  of  Livingstone — for  after  several  weeks'  life 


A  PORTRAIT  OF  THE  GREAT  EXPLORER.        495 

with  him,  in  the  same  tent  and  in  the  same  hut,  I  am  utterly 
unable  to  perceive  what  angle  of  Livingstone's  nature  that 
gentleman  took  to  base  a  judgment  upon.  A  happier  com- 
panion, a  truer  friend  than  the  traveler  thus  slandered  I 
could  not  wish  for.  He  was  always  polite — with  a  politeness 
of  the  genuine  kind — and  this  politeness  never  forsook  him 
for  an  instant,  even  in  the  midst  of  the  most  rugged  scenes 
and  greatest  difficulties. 

Upon  my  first  introduction  to  him,  Livingstone  was  to  me 
like  a  huge  tome  with  a  most  unpretending  binding.  Within, 
the  book  might  contain  much  valuable  lore  and  wisdom,  but 
its  exterior  gave  no  promise  of  what  was  within.  Thus  out- 
side, Livingstone  gave  no  token — except  of  being  rudely  dealt 
with  by  the  wilderness —  of  what  element  of  power  or  talent 
lay  within.  He  is  a  man  of  unpretending  appearance 
enough,  has  quiet,  composed  features,  from  which  the  fresh- 
ness of  youth  has  quite  departed,  but  which  retains  the 
mobility  of  prime  age  just  enough  to  show  that  there  yet 
lives  much  endurance  and  vigor  within  his  frame.  The  eyes, 
whic^  are  hazel,  are  remarkably  bright,  not  dimmed  in  the 
least,  though  the  -vyhiskers  and  mustache  are  very  gray.  The 
hair  originally  brown,  is  streaked  here  and  there  with  gray 
over  the  temples ;  otherwise  it  might  belong  to  a  man  of 
thirty.  The  teeth  above  show  strong  indications  of  being 
worn  out.  The  hard  fare  of  Londa  and  Manyema,  have  made 
havoc  in  their  ranks.  His  form  is  stoutish,  a  little  over  the 
ordinary  height,  with  slightly  bowed  shoulders.  "When  walk- 
ing, he  has  the  heavy  step  of  an  overworked  and  fatigued 
man.  On  his  head  he  wears  the  naval  cap,  with  a  round 
vizor,  with  which  he  has  been  identified  throughout  Africa. 
His  dress  shows  that  at  times  he  has  had  to  resort  to  the 
needle  to  repair  and  replace  what  travel  has  worn.  Such  is 
Livingstone  externally. 

Of  the  inner  man  much  more  may  be  said  than  of  the 
outer.  As  he  reveals  himself,  bit  by  bit,  to  the  stranger,  a 
great  many  favorable  points  present  themselves,  any  of 
which,  taken  singly,  might  well  dispose  you  toward  him.  I 


496  TALKS  ON  THE  VERANDA. 

had  brought  him  a  packet  of  letters,  and  though  I  urged  him 
again  and  again  to  defer  conversation  with  me  until  he  had 
read  the  news  from  home  and  children,  he  said  he  would 
defer  reading  until  night ;  for  the  time,  he  would  enjoy  being 
astonished  by  the  European  and  any  general  world  news  I  could 
communicate.  He  had  acquired  the  art  of  being  patient  long 
ago,  he  said,  and  he  had  waited  so  long  for  letters  that  he 
could  well  afford  to  wait  a  few  hours  more.  So  we  sat  and 
talked,  on  that  humble  veranda  of  one  of  the  poorest  houses 
in  Ujiji.  Talked,  quite  oblivious  of  ;the  large  concourse  of 
Arabs,  Wanguana  and  "Wajiji,  who  had  crowded  around  to 
see  the  new  comer. 

There  was  much  to  talk  about  on  both  sides.  On  his  side 
he  had  to  tell  me  what  had  happened  to  him',  of  where  he 
had  been,  and  of  what  he  had  seen,  during  the  five  years  the 
world  believed  him  to  be  dead.  On  my  side,  I  had  to  tell 
him  very  old  old  news,  of  the  Suez  Canal  and  the  royal 
extravagance  of  Ismail  Pacha;  of  the  termination  of  the 
Cretan  insurrection ;  of  the  Spanish  revolution ;  of  the  flight 
of  Isabella  ;  of  the  new  King  Amadeus,  and  of  the  assassina- 
tion of  Prim;  of  the  completion  of  the  Pacific  Railroad 
across  the  American  Continent ;  of  the  election  of  General 
Grant  as  President ;  of  the  French  and  Prussian  war ;  of  the 
capture  of  Napoleon,  the  flight  of  Eugenie,  and  of  the  com- 
plete humiliation  of  France.  Scores  of  eminent  persons — 
some  personal  friends  of  his — had  died.  So  that  the  news 
had  a  deep  interest  to  him,  and  I  had  a  most  attentive 
auditor. 

By  and  by  the  Arabs  retired,  understanding  well  the  posi- 
tion, though  they  were  also  anxious  to  hear  from  me  about 
Mirambo  ;  but  I  sent  my  head  men  with  them  to  give  them 
such  news  as  they  wanted. 

The  hours  of  the  afternoon  passed  most  pleasantly — few 
afternoons  of  my  life  more  so.  It  seemed  to  me  as  if  I  had 
met  an  old,  old  friend.  There  was  a  friendly  or  good-natured 
abandon  about  Livingstone  which  was  not  lost  on  me.  As 
host,  welcoming  one  who  spoke  his  language,  he  did  his 


LIVINGSTONE'S  INNER  LIFE.  497 

duties  with  a  spirit  and  style  I  have  never  seen  elsewhere. 
He  had  not  much  to  offer,  to  be  sure,  but  what  he  had  was 
mine  and  his. 

The  wan  features  which  I  had.  thought  shocked  me 
at  first  meeting,  the  heavy  step  which  told  of  age  and  hard 
travel,  the  gray  beard  and  stooping  shoulders  belied  the  man. 
Underneath  that  aged  and  well  spent  exterior  lay  an  endless 
fund  of  high  spirits,  which  now  and  then  broke  out  in  peals 
of  hearty  laughter — the  rugged  frame  enclosed  a  very  young 
and  exuberant  soul.  The  meal — I  am  not  sure  but  what  we 
ate  three  meals  that  afternoon — was  seasoned  with  innumer- 
able jokes  and  pleasant  anecdotes,  interesting  hunting  stories, 
of  which  his  friends  Webb,  Oswell,  Yardon  and  Gumming 
(Gordon  Gumming)  were  always  the  chief  actors. 

"  You  have  brought  me  new  life,"  he  said  several  times, 
so  that  I  was  not  sure  but  there  was  some  little  hysteria  in 
this  joviality  and  abundant  animal  spirits,  but  as  I  found  it 
continued  during  several  weeks  I  am  now  disposed  to  think 
it  natural. 

Another  thing  which  'specially  attracted  my  attention  was 
his  wonderfully  retentive  memory.  When  we  remember 
the  thirty  years  and  more  he  has  spent  in  Africa,  deprived 
of  books,  we  may  well  think  it  an  uncommon  memory  that 
can  recite  whole  poems  of  Burns,  Byron,  Tennyson,  and 
Longfellow.  Even  the  poets  Whittier  and  Lowell,  were  far 
better  known  to  him  than  to  me.  He  knew  an  endless  num- 
ber of  facts,  and  names  of  persons  connected  with  America 
much  better  than  I,  though  it  was  my  peculiar  province  as  a 
journalist  ito  have  known  them.  One  reason  perhaps,  for 
this  fact  may  be  that  the  Doctor  never  smokes,  so  that,  his 
brain  is  never  befogged,  even  temporarily,  by  the  fumes  of 
the  insidious  weed.  Besides,  he  has  lived  all  his  life  almost, 
we  may  say,  within  himself — in  a  world  of  thought  which 
revolved  inwardly,  seldom  awaking  out  of  it  except  to  attend 
to  the  immediate  practical  necessities  of  himself  and  his  expe- 
dition. The  immediate  necessities  disposed  of,  he  must  have 
relapsed  into  his  own  inner  world,  into  which  he  must  have 


498  HIS  PRACTICAL  RELIGION 

conjured  memories  of  his  home,  relations,  friends,  acquaint- 
ances, familiar  readings,  ideas  and  associations,  so  that 
wherever  he  might  be,  or  by  whatsoever  he  was  surrounded, 
his  own  world  had  attractions  far  superior  to  that  which  the 
external  world  by  which  he  was  surrounded  had. 

Dr.  Livingstone  is  a  truly  pious  man — a  man  deeply 
imbued  with  real  religious  instincts.  The  study  of  the  man 
would  not  be  complete  if  we  did  not  take  the  religious  side 
of  his  character  into  consideration.  His  religion,  any  more 
than  his  business,  is  not  of  the  theoretical  kind — simply 
contenting  itself  with  avowing  its  peculiar  creed  and  ignoring 
all  other  religious  as  wrong  or  weak.  It  is  of  the  true,  prac- 
tical kind,  never  losing  a  chance  to  manifest  itself  in  a  quiet, 
practical  way — never  demonstrative  or  loud.  It  is  always  at 
work,  if  not  in  deed,  by  shining  example.  It  is  not  aggress- 
ive, which  sometimes  is  troublesome  and  often  impertinent. 
In  him  religion  exhibits  its  loveliest  features.  It  governs 
his  conduct  towards  his  servants,  towards  the  natives,  and 
towards  the  bigoted  Mussulmans — even  all  who  come  in 
contact  with  him.  Without  religion  Livingstone,  with  his 
ardent  temperament,  his  enthusiastic  nature,  his  high  spirit 
and  courage,  might  have  been  an  uncompanionable  man  and 
a  hard  master.  Religion  has  tamed  all  these  characteristics ; 
nay,  if  he  was  ever  possessed  of  them,  they  have  been 
thoroughly  eradicated.  Whatever  was  crude  or  willful,  relig- 
ion has  refined,  and  made  him,  to  speak  the  earnest,  sober 
truth,  the  most  agreeable  of  companions  and  indulgent  of 
masters. 

I  have  been  frequently  ashamed  of  my  impatience  while 
listening  to  his  mild  rebuke  to  a  dishonest  or  lazy  servant, 
whereas  had  he  been  of  mine,  his  dishonesty  or  laziness  had 
surely  been  visited  with  prompt  punishment.  I  have  often 
heard  our  servants  discuss  our  respective  merits. 

"  Your  master,"  say  my  servants  to  those  of  Livingstone, 
"  is  a  good  man — a  very  good  man.  He  does  not  beat  you, 
for  he  has  a  kind  heart ;  but  ours — oh !  he  is  sharp,  hot  as  fire 
— mkali  swnarkana  moto." 


LIVINGSTONE  AS  AN  EXPLORER. 


HIS  SUNDAY  SERVICES  AT  UJIJI.  501 

From  being  hated  and  thwarted  in  every  possible  way  by 
the  Arabs  and  half  castes  upon  first  arrival  in  Ujiji,  through 
his  uniform  kindness  and  mild,  pleasant  temper  he  has  now 
'won  all  hearts.  I  perceived  that  universal  respect  was  paid 
to  him  by  all. 

Every  Sunday  morning  he  gathers  his  little  flock  around 
him  and  has  prayers  read,  not  in  the  stereotyped  tone  of  an 
English  High  Church  clergyman,  which  always  sounds  in  my 
ears  insincerely,  but  in  the  tone  recommended  by  Archbishop 
Whately — viz. ,  natural,  unaffected  and  sincere.  Following 
them,  he  delivers  a  short  address  in  the  Kisawahiti  language, 
about  what  he  has  been  reading  from  the  Bible  to  them, 
which  is  listened  to  with  great  attention. 

There  is  another  point  in  Livingstone's  character  about 
which  we,  as  readers  of  his  books  and  students  of  his  travels, 
would  naturally  wish  to  know  something — viz. ,  his  ability  to 
withstand  the  rigors  of  an  African  climate,  and  the  consistent 
energy  with  which  he  follows  the  exploration  of  Central 
Africa.  Those  who  may  have  read  Burton's  "  Lake  Regions 
of  Central  Africa  "  cannot  have  failed  to  perceive  that  Cap- 
tain Burton,  the  author,  was  very  well  tired  of  Africa  long 
before  he  reached  Ujiji,  and  that  when  he  had  reached  Ujiji 
he  was  too  much  worn  out  to  be  able  to  go  any  farther,  or  do 
anything  but  proceed  by  boat  to  TJvira,  near  the  northern 
head  of  the  Tanganyika — a  task  he  performed,  we  must 
admit,  in  no  enviable  humor.  We  also  know  how  Speke 
looked  and  felt  when  Baker  met  him  at  Gondakoro ;  how, 
after  merely  glancing  at  the  outflow  of  Lake  Yictoria  into  the 
Victoria  Nile,  he  was  unable  or  indisposed  to  go  a  little  far- 
ther west,  to  discover  the  lake  which  has  made  Baker  famous 
and  given  him  a  knighthood.  Also,  do  we  not  all  know  the 
amount  of  Baker's  discovery  of  that  lake,  and  what  resolutions 
he  made  after  his  return  to  civilization  from  his  visit  to  the 
Albert  Lake  2 

When  I  first  met  the  Doctor  I  asked  him  if  he  did  not  feel 
a  desire  to  visit  his  country  and  take  a  little  rest.  He  had 
then  been  absent  about  six  years,  and  the  answer  he  gave  me 


502  HIS  ENTERPRISE  AND  PERSEVERANCE. 

freely  shows  what  kind  of  man  he  is,  and  how  differently  con- 
stituted he  is  from  Burton,  Speke  or  Baker.  Said  he  :— 

"  I  would  like  very  much  to  go  home  and  see  my  children 
once  again,  but  I  cannot  bring  my  heart  to  abandon  the  task 
I  have  undertaken  when  it  is  so  nearly  completed.  It  only 
requires  six  or  seven  months  more  to  trace  the  true  source 
that  I  have  discovered  with  Petherick's  branch  of  the  White 
Nile,  or  with  the  Albert  N'yanza  of  Sir  Samuel  Baker.  Why 
should  I  go  before  my  task  is  ended,  to  have  to  come  back 
again  to  do  what  I  can  very  well  do  now  ?" 

"And  why,"  I  asked,  " did  you  come  so  far  back  without 
finishing  the  short  task  which  you  say  you  have  yet  to  do  ?" 

"  Simply  because  I  was  forced ;  my  men  would  not  budge 
a  step  forward.  They  mutinied,  and  formed  a  secret  resolution 
if  I  still  insisted  on  going  on,  to  raise  a  disturbance  in 
the  country,  and  after  they  had  effected  it  to  abandon  me,  in 
which  case  I  should  be  killed.  It  was  dangerous  to  go  any 
farther.  I  had  explored  six  hundred  miles  of  the  watershed, 
had  traced  all  the  principal  streams  which  discharged  their 
waters  into  the  central  line  of  drainage,  and  when  about  start- 
ing to  explore  the  last  one  hundred  miles  the  hearts  of  my 
people  failed,  and  they  set  about  frustrating  me  in  every 
possible  way.  ^Now,  having  returned  seven  hundred  miles 
to  get  a  new  supply  of  stores  and  another  escort,  I  find  myself 
destitute  of  even  the  means  to  live  but  for  a  few  weeks,  and 
sick  in  mind  and  body." 

Let  any  reader  study  the  spirit  of  the  above  remark,  and 
compare  it  with  those  which  animated  a  Burton,  a  Speke  or 
a  Baker.  How  would  these  gentlemen  have  comported  them- 
selves in  such  a  crisis,  unprepared,  as  we  all  know  they  were, 
for  the  terrible  fevers  of  Central  Africa  \ 

Again,  about  a  week  after  I  had  arrived  in  Ujiji,  I  asked 
Livingstone  if  he  had  examined  the  northern  head  of  the 
Tanganyika.  He  answered  immediately  he  had  not,  and 
then  asked  if  people  expected  he  had.  I  then  informed  him 
that  great  curiosity  was  felt  about  the  connection  that  was 
supposed  to  exist  between  the  Tanganyika  and  Lake  Albert. 


LAKE  TANGANYIKA  DISCUSSED.  503 

One  party  said  that  a  river  flowed  out  of  the  Tanganyika 
into  the  Albert ;  another  party  held  that  it  was  impossible, 
since  the  Tanganyika  was,  according  to  Burton  and  Speke, 
much  lower  than  the  Albert.  Others  were  inclined  to  let 
the  subject  alone  until  they  should  hear  from  him,  the  only 
one  capable  at  the  present  time  to  set  the  matter  at  rest  for- 
ever. 

The  Doctor  replied  to  these  remarks  that  he  was  not  aware 
so  much  importance  was  attached  to  the  Tanganyika,  as  his 
friends  at  home,  instead  of  writing  to  him,  contented  them- 
selves with  speculating  as  to  where  he  should  come  out  of 
Africa,  and  thus  he  had  been  kept  ignorant  of  many  things 
of  which  those  who  took  any  interest  in  him  should  have 
informed  him. 

"  I  did  try  before  setting  out  for  Manyema  to  engage 
canoes  and  proceed  northward,  but  I  soon  saw  that  the 
people  were  all  confederating  to  fleece  me  as  they  had  Bur- 
ton, and  had  I  gone  under  such  circumstances  I  should  not 
have  been  able  to  proceed  to  Manyema  to  explore  the  central 
line  of  drainage,  and  of  course  the  most  important  line — far 
more  important  than  the  line  of  the  Tanganyika ;  for  what- 
ever connection  there  may  be  between  the  Tanganyika  and 
the  Albert,  the  true  sources  of  the  Nile  are  those  emptying 
into  the  central  line  of  drainage.  In  my  own  mind  I  have 
not  the  least  doubt  that  the  Rusizi  River  flows  from  this  lake 
into  the  Albert.  For  three  months,  steadily,  I  observed  a  cur- 
rent setting  northward.  I  verified  it  by  means  of  water 
plants. 

When  Speke  gives  the  altitude  of  the  Tanganyika  at  only 
one  thousand  eight  hundred  and  eighty  feet  above  the  sea,  I 
imagine  he  must  have  fallen  into  the  error  by  frequently 
writing  the  Anno  Domini,  and  thus  made  a  slip  of  the  pen  ; 
for  the  altitude  is  over  two  thousand  eight  hundred  feet  by 
boiling  point,  though  I  make  it  a  little  over  three  thousand 
feet  by  barometers.  Thus  you  see  that  there  are  no  very 
great  natural  difficulties  on  the  score  of  altitude,  and  nothing 
to  prevent  the  reasonable  supposition  that  there  may  be  a 
26 


504:  AN  EXCURSION  DECIDED  OX. 

water  connection  by  means  of  the  Rusizi  or  some  other  river 
between  the  two  lakes.  Besides,  the  Arabs  here  are  divided 
in  their  statements.  Some  swear  that  the  river  goes  out  of 
the  Tanganyika,  others  that  it  flows  into  the  Tanganyika." 

"  Well  Doctor,"  said  I,  "  if  I  were  you,  before  leaving 
this  part  of  the  country  for  Unyanyembe,  perhaps  never  to 
return  here — for  one  knows  not  what  may  occur  in  the  mean- 
time— I  would  go  up  and  see,  and  if  yon  like  I  will  accom- 
pany you.  You  say  you  have  no  cloth  and  only  five  men. 
I  have  enough  cloth  and  men  for  all  your  purposes.  Sup- 
pose you  go  up  and  settle  this  vexed  question,  for  so  far  as  I 
see  by  the  newspapers,  everybody  expects  it  of  you.' 

Many  a  traveler,  as  I  have  shown,  would  have  pleaded 
fatigue  and  utter  weariness  of  mind  and  body,  but  Living- 
stone did  not.  That  very  instant  the  resolve  was  made  ;  that 
very  instant  he  started  to  execute  it.  lie  sent  a  man  to  Said 
Ben  Majid  to  request  the  loan  of  his  canoe,  and  his  baggage 
was  got  ready  for  the  voyage.  Not  yet  recovered  from  the 
sore  effects  of  his  return  from  his  unsuccessful  and  lengthy 
journey  to  accomplish  the  object  that  lay  so  near  his  heart ; 
yet  suffering  from  an  attack  of  diarrhoea  and  the  consequent 
weakness  it  induced,  the  brave  spirit  was  up  again,  eager  as  a 
high-spirited  boy,  for  the  path  of  duty  pointed  out. 


CHAPTER  XXX. 
AN  EXCURSION  ON  LAKE  TANGANYIKA. 

fllHE  preparations  for  the  excursion  on  Lake  Tanganyika 
JL  having  been  completed,  Livingstone  and  Stanley  started 
from  Ujiji  November  20th,  in  a  large  canoe  manned  by 
twenty  picked  men  of  the  Herald  Expedition.  The  object  of 
the  trip  was  to  discover  which  way  the  waters  of  the  river 
Rusizi  ran — into  the  lake,  or  out  of  it.  Dr.  Livingstone 
speaks  of  the  journey  as  a  picnic,  and  the  contrast  between 
his  late  tiresome  traveling  and  a  boat  ride  on  Lake  Tangan- 
yika, must  have  been  especially  agreeable  to  the  exhausted 
explorer. 

Mr.  Stanley  thus  describes  the  trip,  and  its  geographical 
results : — 

"  As  we  hugged  the  coast  of  Ujiji  and  Urundi,  looking 
sharply  to  every  little  inlet  and  creek  for  the  outlet  that  was 
said  to  be  somewhere  in  a  day's  pulling,  wre  would  pass  by 
from  fifteen  to  twenty  miles  of  country.  As  we  left  our 
camp  at  dawn,  after  despatching  our  breakfast  of  Mocha 
coffee  and  dourra  pancakes,  with  the  men  gayly  shouting  and 
chanting  their  lively  chorus,  echoing  among  the  great  mount- 
ains that  rose  up  sometimes  two  thousand  and  three  thousand 
feet  above  our  heads,  we  did  not  know  but  that  our  next 
camping  place  might  be  in  an  enemy's  country.  Who  could 
guarantee  our  lives  while  camping  in  the  country  of  Urundi  ? 

Despite  the  assertions  of  Arabs  that  the  Warundi  were 
dangerous  and  would  not  let  us  pass,  we  hugged  their  coast 
closely,  and  when  fatigued,  boldlv  encamped  in  their  country. 

505 


506  DANGERS  OF  THE  TRIP. 

Onco  only  were  we  obliged  to  fly — and  this  was  at  dead  of 
night — from  a  large  party  which  we  knew  to  be  surrounding 
us  on  the  land  side.  We  got  to  the  boat  safely,  and  we  might 
have  punished  them  severely  had  the  Doctor  been  so  disposed. 
Once  also  we  were  stoned,  but  we  paid  no  heed  to  them,  and 
kept  on  our  way  along  their  coast  until  we  arrived  at  Mukam- 
ba's,  one  of  the  chiefs  of  Usige. 

Several  times  we  were  in  danger.  Twice  our  men  kept 
watch  all  night  lest  we  might  be  surprised  while  asleep. 
Twice  during  the  noon-day  heats  we  drank  the  exhilarating 
bohea,  with  our  eyes  and  ears  painfully  on  the  alert,  for  the 
enemy  we  knew  to  be  on  the  search  for  us.  These  were 
some  of  the  drawbacks  to  the  pleasure  of  the  picnic. 

It  took  us  ten  days'  hard  pulling  to  reach  the  head  of  the 
lake,  a  distance  of  nearly  one  hundred  geographical  miles  from 
Ujiji.  Two  days  sufficed  for  the  coast  of  Ujiji,  the  remaining 
eight  we  were  coasting  along  the  bold  shores  of  Uruudi, 
which  gradually  inclined  to  the  eastward,  the  western  ranges, 
ever  bold  and  high  looking  like  a  huge  blue-black  barrier 
some  thirty  miles  west  of  us,  to  all  appearances  impenetrable 
and  impassable.  If  the  waters  of  the  Tanganyika  could  be 
drained  out,  and  we  were  to  stand  upon  the  summit  of  those 
great  peaks,  which  rise  abruptly  out  of  the  lake,  a  most  won- 
derful scene  would  be  presented  to  us.  We  should  see  an 
extraordinary  deep  chasm  from  five  thousand  to  seven  thou- 
sand feet  deep,  with  the  large  island  of  Ubwari  rising  like 
another  Magdala  from  the  awful  depths  around  it;  for  I 
think  that  the  greatest  depth  of  that  lake  is  near  three  thou- 
sand feet. 

Only  two  miles  from  shore  I  sounded,  and  though  I  let 
down  six  hundred  and  twenty  feet  of  line  I  found  no  bot- 
tom. Livingstone  sounded  when  crossing  the  Tanganyika 
from,  the  westward,  and  found  no  bottom  with  one  thousand 
eight  hundred  feet  of  line.  The  mountains  around  the  north- 
ern half  of  the  Tanganyika  fold  around  so  close,  with  no  ave- 
nue whatever  for  the  escape  of  waters  save  the  narrow  valleys 
and  ravines  which  admit  rivers  and  streams  into  the  lake,  that 


AT  THE  HEAD  OF  THE  LAKE".  509 

were  it  possible  to  force  the  water  into  a  higher  altitude  of 
five  hundred  feet  above  its  present  level  its  dimensions  would 
not  be  increased  very  considerably.  The  valley  of  the  Mal- 
agarazi  would  then  be  a  narrow  deep  arm  of  the  lake,  and 
the  Rusizi  would  be  a  northern  arm,  crooked  and  tortuous, 
of  sixty  or  seventy  miles  in  length. 

The  evening  before  we  saw  the  Rusizi,  a  freedman  of  Zan- 
zibar was  asked  which  way  the  river  ran — out  of  the  lake  or 
into  it  ?  The  man  swore  that  he  had  been  on  the  river  but 
the  day  before,  and  that  it  ran  out  of  the  lake.  Here  was  an 
announcement  calculated  to  shake  the  most  skeptical.  I 
thought  the  news  to  good  too  be  true ;  I  should  certainly  have 
preferred  that  the  river  ran  out  of  the  lake  into  either  the 
Victoria  or  the  Albert.  The  night  we  heard  this  announce- 
ment made  so  earnestly,  Livingstone  and  myself  sat  up  very 
late,  speculating  as  to  where  it  went.  We  resolved,  if  it 
flowed  into  the  Victoria  N'yanza,  to  proceed  with  it  to  that 
lake,  and  then  strike  south  to  Unyanyembe  ;  and,  if  it  flowed 
into  the  Albert  Lake,  to  proceed  into  the  Albert  and  cruise  all 
around  it,  in  the  hope  of  meeting  Baker. 

As  there  was  war  between  the  rival  tribes  inhabiting  the 
banks  of  the  Rusizi,  the  King  Mukamba  advised  us  to  pro- 
ceed to  his  brother's  village  in  Mugihewa  by  night,  which  was 
situated  about  eight  hundred  yards  from  the  river,  on  the 
right  bank.  Just  after  dark  we  started,  and  in  the  morning 
we  arrived  at  Mugihewa.  After  a  cup  of  coifee  we  manned  our 
canoe,  and  having  prepared  our  guns  we  started  for  the  mouth 
of  the  river.  In  about  fifteen  minutes  we  were  entering  a 
little  bay  about  a  mile  wide,  and  saw  before  us  to  the  north 
a  dense  brake  of  papyrus  and  matete  cane.  Until  we  were 
close  to  this  brake  we  could  not  detect  the  slightest  opening 
for  a  river  such  as  we  imagined  the  Rusizi  to  be.  We  fol- 
lowed some  canoes  which  were  disappearing  mysteriously  and 
suspiciously  through  some  gaps  in  the  dense  brake.  Pulling 
boldly  up,  we  found  ourselves  in  what  afterwards  proved  to 
be  the  central  mouth  of  the  river. 

All  doubt  as  to  what  the  Rusizi  was,  vanished  at  once  and 


510  UP  THE  RUSIZI. 

forever  before  that  strong,  brown  flood,  which  tasked  our  exer- 
tions to  the  utmost  as  we  pulled  up.  I  once  'doubted,  as  I 
seized  an  oar,  that  we  should  ever  be  able  to  ascend ;  but 
after  a  quarter  of  an  hour's  pulling  the  river  broadened,  and 
a  little  higher  up  we  saw  it  widen  into  lagoons  on  either  side. 
The  alluvial  plain  through  which  the  river  makes  its  exit 
into  the  lake  is  about  twelve  miles  wide,  and  narrows  into  a 
point  after  a  length  of  fifteen  miles,  or  a  narrow  valley 
folded  in  by  the  eastern  and  western  ranges,  which  here  meet 
at  a  distance  of  a  couple  of  miles.  The  western  range,  which 
inclines  to  the  eastward,  halts  abruptly,  and  a  portion  of  it 
runs  sharply  northwestward,  while  the  eastern  range  inclines 
westward,  and  after  overlapping  the  western  range  shoots  off 
northwestward,  where  it  is  lost  amid  a  perfect  jumble  of 
mountains. 

There  could  be  no  mistake  then.  Dr.  Livingstone  and  my- 
gelf  had  ascended  it,  had  felt  the  force  of  the  strong  inflowing 
current — the  Rusizi  was  an  influent,  as  much  so  as  the  Mala- 
garazi,  the  Linche  and  Rugufu,  but  with  its  banks  full  it  can 
only  be  considered  as  ranking  third  among  the  rivers  flowing 
into  the  Tanganyika.  Though  rapid  it  is  extremely  shallow ; 
it  has  three  mouths,  up  which  an  ordinary  ship's  boat  loaded 
might  in  vain  attempt  to  ascend.  Burton  and  Speke,  though 
they  ascended  to  within  six  hours'  journey  by  canoe  from  the 
Rusizi,  were  compelled  to  turn  back  by  the  cowardice  of  the 
boatmen.  Had  they  ascended  to  Heuta's  capital,  they  could 
easily  have  seen  the  head  of  the  lake. 

The  chief  Ruhinga,  living  at  Mugihewa,  is  the  principal 
chief  in  TJsige.  He  is  a  great  traveler.  Born  in  Urundi,  he 
has  been  to  Karagwa  and  Ruanda,  and  came  to  TJsige  when 
quite  a  young  man.  Though  a  pleasant  cynic  in  his  way,  he 
shared  in  our  enthusiasm  as  if  he  had  been  an  Associate  of 
the  Royal  Geographical  Society,  and  entered  very  readily 
into  a  discussion  about  the  mooted  points  which  still  remained 
unsolved. 

Briefly,  he  said  that  the  Rusizi  rose  from  the  Lake  Kivo,  a 
lake  fifteen  miles  in  length  and  about  eight  in  breadth. 


TRIBUTARIES  OF  THE  RUSIZI.  5U 

Kwansibura  was  the  chief  of  the  district  in  northeastern 
Urundi,  which  gives  its  name  to  the  lake.  Through  a  gap  in 
a  mountain  the  river  Rusizi  escaped  out  of  Lake  Kivo.  On 
leaving  Lake  Kivo  it  is  called  Kwangeregere.  It  then  runs 
through  the  district  of  Unyambungu,  and  becomes  known  as 
the  Rusizi,  or  Lusizi.  A  day's  march  from  Mugihewa,  or  say 
twenty  miles  north  of  the  mouth,  it  is  joined  by  the  Luanda, 
or  Ruanda,  flowing  from  a  northwesterly  direction,  from 
which  I  gather  that  the  river  Luanda  is  called  after  the  name 
of  the  country — Ruanda,  said  to  be  famous  for  its  copper 
mines.  Besides  the  Luanda  there  are  seventeen  other  streams 
which  contribute  to  the  Rusizi;  these  are  the  Mpanda, 
Karindwa,  "VVa  Kanigi,  Kaginissi,  Kaburan,  Mohira,  Niam- 
agana,  Nya  Kagunda,  Ruviro,  Rofuba,  Kavimvira,  Mujove 
Ruhuhha,  Mukindu,  Sange,  Rubirizi,  Kiriba. 

Though  the  Rusizi  River  can  no  longer  be  a  subject  of 
curiosity  to  geographers — and  we  are  certain  that  there  is  no 
connection  between  the  Tanganyika  and  Baker's  Lake,  or  the 
Albert  N'yanza — it  is  not  yet  certain  that  there  is  no  connec- 
tion between  the  Tanganyika  and  the  Nile  River.  The  west- 
ern coast  has  not  all  been  explored ;  and  there  is  reason  to 
suppose  that  a  river  runs  out  of  the  Tanganyika  through  the 
deep  caverns  of  Kabogo  Mountain,  far  under  ground  and  out 
on  the  western  side  of  Kabogo  into  the  Lualuba,  or  the  Nile. 
Livingstone  has  seen  the  river  about  forty  miles  or  so  west  of 
Kabogo  (about  forty  yards  broad  at  that  place),  but  he  does 
not  know  that  it  runs  out  of  the  mountain.  This  is  one  of 
the  many  things  which  he  has  yet  to  examine. 

Usige,  a  district  of  Urundi  occupying  the  head  of  the  lakej 
extends  two  marches  into  the  north,  or  thirty  miles ;  after 
which  comes  what  is  called  Urundi  Proper  for  another  two 
day's  inarch ;  and  directly  north  of  that  is  Ruanda,  a  very- 
large  country,  almost  equal  in  size  to  Urundi.  Ruhinga 
had  been  six  days  to  the  northward.  There  were  some  in 
his  tribe  who  had  gone  further,  but  from  no  one  could  we 
obtain  any  intelligence  of  a  lake  or  of  a  large  body  of  water, 
such  as  the  Albert  N'yanza,  being  to  the  north. 


512  UVIRA— RETURN  TO  UJIJL 

Ruanda,  as  represented  to  us  by  Ruhinga,  Mukamba,  chiefs 
of  Usige,  and  their  elders,  is  an  exceedingly  mountainous 
country,  with  extensive  copper  mines.  It  occupies  that  whole 
district  north  of  Urundi  Proper,  between  Mutumbi  on  the 
west  and  Urundi  on  the  east,  and  Itara  on  the  northeast.  Of 
the  countries  lying  north  of  Ruanda  we  could  obtain  no  infor- 
mation. West  of  Urundi  is  the  extreme  frontier  of  Han- 
yema,  which  even  here  has  been  heard  of. 

We  spent  nine  days  at  the  head  of  the  Tanganyika,  explor- 
ing the  islands  and  many  bays  that  indent  its  shores. 

In  returning  to  Ujiji  after  the  satisfactory  solution  of  the 
River  Rusizi,  we  coasted  down  the  western  shore  of  the  Tan- 
ganyika, -and  came  to  Uvira  at  noon  on  the  following  day. 
We  were  shown  the  sandy  beach  on  which  the  canoes  of  Bur- 
ton and  Speke  had  rested.  Above,  a  little  south  of  this,  rises 
the  lofty  peak  of  Samburizi,  fully  four  thousand  five  hun- 
dred feet  above  the  level  of  the  lake.  Mniti,  the  Chief  of 
Uvira,  still  lives  in  the  village  he  occupied  when  Burton  and 
Speke  visited  his  dominions.  A  day's  march,  or  fifteen  miles 
south  of  this,  Uvira  narrows  down  to  the  alluvial  plains 
formed  by  the  numerous  streams  which  dash  down  the  slopes 
of  the  western  range,  while  the  mountainous  country  is 
known  as  Ubembe,  the  land  of  the  cannibals,  who  seldom 
visit  the  canoes  of  the  traders. 

South  of  Uvira  is  Usansi,  peopled  by  a  race  extremely  can- 
nibalistic in  its  taste,  as  the  Doctor  and  myself  had  very 
good  reason  to  know.  I  think  if  we  had  had  a  few  sick  or 
old  men  among  our  party  we  could  have  disposed  of  them  to 
advantage,  or  we  might  have  exchanged  them  for  vegetables, 
which  would  have  been  most  welcome  to  us.  From  Usansi 
we  struck  off  across  the  lake,  and,  rowing  all  night,  at  dawn 
we  arrived  at  a  port  in  Southern  Urundi.  Three  days  after- 
ward we  were  welcomed  by  the  Arab  traders  of  Ujiji,  as  we 
once  more  set  foot  on  the  beach  near  that  bunder." 

It  seems  very  remarkable  to  all  readers  of  Dr.  Livingstone's 
books,  that  though  he  has  traveled  so  many  years  among  the 
uncivilized  and  often  brutal  Africans,  generally  well  armed 


LIVINGSTONE'S  COOLNESS  AND  FEARLESSNESS.  513 

and  prepared  for  any  deadly  encounter,  no  necessity  has  oc- 
curred for  his  using  his  weapons  excepting  by  way  of  threats 
and  intimidation.  Doubtless,  in  the  hands  of  ordinary  mor- 
tals under  trying  circumstances,  a  shot  would  have  brought 
on  an  affray  equally  serious  to  both  parties.  Incidents  of  the 
lake  trip,  which  have  been  referred  to,  gave  Mr.  Stanley  an  in- 
sight to  Livingstone's  coolness  and  fearlessness. 

They  were  in  the  land  of  the  hostile  Warundi  and  appre- 
hended an  attack.  "While  eating  their  supper,  Stanley  called  the 
attention  of  his  companion  to  the  fact  that  they  were  actually 
surrounded  by  the  stealthy  enemy.  "  Are  you  sure  of  that  ?" 
asked  the  Doctor.  "  Yes,"  said  Stanley,  "  some  are  behind 
you  at  this  moment."  Livingstone  turned  and  saw  them,  and 
ordered  one  of  his  men  to  hail  them.  So  soon  as  the  Warundi 
perceived  that  they  were  seen,  they  advanced  and  demanded 
who  were  there.  The  travelers  answered  that  they  were  white 
men,  and  asked  them  what  they  wanted.  The  natives  re- 
plied that  they  would  come  back  again  and  see  the  white  men 
in  the  evening.  When  they  had  gone  Livingstone  and  Stan- 
ley thought,  on  due  consideration  of  all  the  circumstances, 
that  it  would  be  better  to  quit  the  vicinity  at  once.  Accord- 
ingly, they  got  into  their  boats,  and  Stanley  had  just  pushed 
off  from  the  lake  shore,  when  the  tribe  suddenly  made  a  new 
appearance  in  great  force  and  with  much  fury,  attacking  them 
with  stones  and  arrows.  Mr.  Stanley  cocked  his  gun  and  said : 

"  Doctor,  give  me  permission  to  punish  these  fellows."  But 
Dr.  Livingstone  answered  :— 

"No,  no ;  we  have  got  out  of  danger ;  it  is  not  necessary  to 
shed  blood  now."  The  attack,  however,  was  of  an  exceeding- 
ly dangerous  character,  despite  the  humane  and  cool  conduct 
of  the  great  explorer  in  face  of  it. 

At  another  time  the  party  were  in  the  cannibal  country  of 
Usamsi,  on  the  western  coast  of  Lake  Tanganyika.  Dr.  Liv- 
ingstone had  gone  out  to  take  observations,  while  Mr.  Stanley 
had  retired  to  sleep.  Suddenly  a  boy  rushed  into  the  tent, 
crying  excitedly : 

"  Master,  master,  get  your  gun !  men  want  to  fight !" 


514  LIVINGSTONE'S  COOLNESS  AND  FEARLESSNESS. 

It  vras  quite  true;  there  were  scores  of  excited  native  fel- 
lows shouting  out  that  they  were  going  to  kill  the  white  men. 
Stanley  sent  four  or  five  of  the  men  to  the  Doctor,  warning 
him  of  the  danger,  and  desiring  him  to  hurry  back  to  the 
camp.  By  and  by  the  Doctor  returned,  in  his  usual  calm  and 
deliberate  manner,  presented  himself  to  the  chief  man  of  the 
natives  who  had  made  the  hostile  demonstrations,  and,  with- 
out any  appearance  whatever  of  alarm  or  of  anger,  coolly  in- 
quired what  was  the  matter. 

From  the  reply  to  this  question  it  came  out  that  the  son  of 
the  chief  man  had  been  murdered  by  the  Arabs  of  Ujiji,  and 
that  they  had  come  to  wreak  revenge  for  his  death.  In  a 
calm  and  courteous  manner  the  Doctor  met  their  declaration 
with  the  answer,  that  although  all  that  was  alleged  by  the 
friends  of  the  deceased  might  be  true,  they  had  nothing  in  the 
world  to  do  with  the  business ;  they  were  white  men,  and  not 
Arabs ;  and  in  proof  he  bared  his  arm  and  showed  it  to  them. 
They  were  not,  however,  satisfied  even  by  this,  which  should 
have  been  tolerably  conclusive  evidence ;  and  Livingstone 
had,  in  the  long  run,  to  bribe  them  in  order  to  get  rid  of  them. 
They  left ;  but  fearing  lest  they  might  return  in  greater  force, 
the  travelers  sailed  into  safer  quarters  across  the  lake,  a  dis- 
tance of  thirty-five  miles. 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 
DR.  LIVINGSTONE'S  ADVENTURES. 

THE  following  is  the  story  of  Dr.  Livingstone's  travels 
and  adventures  during  his  last  expedition,  as  told  by  Mr. 
Stanley. 

Dr.  David  Livingstone  left  the  island  of  Zanzibar  in  March, 
1866.  On  the  7th  of  the  following  month  he  departed  from 
Mikindini  Bay  for  the  interior,  with  an  expedition  consisting 
of  twelve  Sepoys  from  Bombay,  nine  men  from  Johanna,  of 
the  Comoro  Isles,  seven  liberated  slaves,  and  two  Zambesi 
men  (taking  them  as  an  experiment),  six  camels,  three  buffa- 
loes, two  mules  and  three  donkeys.  He  thus  had  thirty  men, 
twelve  of  whom — viz.,  the  Sepoys — were  to  act  as  guards 
for  the  expedition.  They  were  mostly  armed  with  the 
Enfield  rifles,  presented  to  the  Doctor  by  the  Bombay  gov- 
ernment. The  baggage  of  the  expedition  consisted  of  ten 
bales  of  cloth  and  two  bags  of  beads,  which  were  to  serve  as 
currency  by  which  they  would  be  enabled  to  purchase  the 
necessaries  of  life  in  the  countries  the  Doctor  intended  to 
visit.  Besides  the  cumbrous  moneys,  they  carried  several 
boxes  of  instruments,  such  as  chronometers,  air  thermometers, 
sextant  and  artificial  horizon,  boxes  containing  clothes,  medi- 
cines, and  personal  necessaries. 

The  expedition  traveled  up  the  left  bank  of  the  Kovuma 
River — a  route  as  full  of  difficulties  as  any  that  could  be 
chosen.  For  miles,  Livingstone  and  his  party  had  to  cut  their 
way  with  their  axes  through  the  dense  and  almost  impenetra- 
ble jungles  which  lined  the  river's  banks.  The  road  was  a 

515 


516  UP  THE  ROYUMA. 

mere  footpath,  leading,  in  the  most  erratic  fashion,  in  and 
through  the  dense  vegetation,  seeking  the  easiest  outlet  from 
it  without  any  regard  to  the  course  it  ran.  The  pagazis  were 
able  to  proceed  easily  enough,  but  the  camels,  on  account  of 
their  enormous  height,  could  not  advance  a  step  without  the 
axes  of  the  party  first  clearing  the  way.  These  tools  of  forest- 
ers were  almost  always  required,  but  the  advance  of  the 
expedition  was  often  retarded  by  the  unwillingness  of  the 
Sepoys  and  Johanna  men  to  work.  Soon  after  the  depart- 
ure of  the  expedition  from  the  coast  the  murmuriugs 
and  complaints  of  these  men  began,  and  upon  every 
occasion  and  at  every  opportunity  they  evinced  a  decided 
hostility  to  an  advance. 

In  order  to  prevent  the  progress  of  the  Doctor,  in  hopes 
that  it  would  compel  him  to  return  to  the  coast,  these  men  so 
cruelly  treated  the  animals  that  before  long  there  was  not 
one  left  alive.  Failing  in  this,  they  set  about  instigating  tho 
natives  against  the  white  man,  whom  they  accused  most 
wantonly  of  strange  practices.  As  this  plan  was  most  likely 
to  succeed,  and  as  it  was  dangerous  to  have  such  men  with 
him,  the  Doctor  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  it  was  best  to 
discharge  them,  and  accordingly  sent  the  Sepoys  back  to  the 
coast,  but  not  without  having  first  furnished  them  with  the 
means  of  subsistence  on  their  journey  to  the  coast.  These 
men  were  such  a  disreputable  set  that  the  natives  talked  of 
them  as  the  Doctor's  slaves. 

One  of  their  worst  sins  was  their  custom  of  giving 
their  guns  and  ammunition,  to  carry  to  the  first  woman 
or  boy  they  met,  whom  they  impressed  for  that  purpose 
by  either '  threats  or  promises  which  they  were  totally 
unable  to  perform  and  unwarranted  in  making.  An  hour's 
march  was  sufficient  to  fatigue  them,  after  which  they  lay 
down  on  the  road  to  bewail  their  hard  fate  and  concoct  new 
schemes  to  frustrate  their  leader's  purposes.  Towards  night 
they  generally  made  their  appearance  at  the  camping-ground 
with  the  looks  of  half-dead  men.  Such  men  naturally  made 
but  a  poor  escort,  for  had  the  party  been  attacked  by  a  wan- 


WAKOTANI  AND  HIS  "BIG  BROTHER."  517 

dering  tribe  of  natives  of  any  strength  the  Doctor  could  have 
made  no  defence,  and  no  other  alternative  would  be  left  to 
him  but  to  surrender  and  be  ruined. 

The  Doctor  arrived,  on  the  18th  of  July,  1866,  at  a  village 
belonging  to  a  chief  of  the  Mahiyaw,  situated  eight  days' 
march  south  of  the  Rovuma  and  overlooking  the  watershed 
of  the  Lake  Nyassa.  The  territory  lying  between  the 
Rovuma  River  and  this  Mahiyaw  chieftain  was  an  uninhab- 
ited wilderness,  during  the  transit  of  which  Livingstone  and 
the  expedition  suffered  considerably  from  hunger  and  deser- 
tion of  men. 

Early  in  August,  1866,  the  Doctor  came  to  Mponda's  coun- 
try— a  chief  who  dwelt  near  the  Lake  Nyassa.  On  the  road 
thither  two  of  the  liberated  slaves  deserted  him.  Here,  also, 
"Wakotani  (not  "Wikotani)  a  protege  of  the  Doctor,  insisted 
upon  his  discharge,  alleging  as  an  excuse,  which  the  Doctor 
subsequently  found  to  be  untrue,  that  he  had  found  his 
brother.  He  further  stated  that  his  family  lived  on  the  east 
side  of  the  Nyassa  Lake.  He  further  said  that  Mponda's 
favorite  wife  was  his  sister.  Perceiving  that  "Wakotani  was 
unwilling  to  go  with  him  further,  the  Doctor  took  him  to 
Mponda,  who  now  saw  and  heard  of  him  for  the  first  time, 
and,  having  furnished  the  ungrateful  boy  with  enough  cloth 
and  beads  to  keep  him  until  his  "big  brother"  should  call  for 
him,  left  him  with  the  chief,  after  first  assuring  himself  that 
he  would  have  honorable  treatment  from  that  chief. 

The  Doctor  also  gave  Wakotani  paper  (as  he  could  read 
and  write,  being  some  of  the  accomplishments  acquired  at 
Bombay,  where  he  had  been  put  to  school)  that  should  he  at 
any  time  feel  so  disposed,  he  might  write  to  Mr.  Horace 
"Waller  or  to  himself.  The  Doctor  further  enjoined  on  him 
not  to  join  any  slave  raid  usually  made  by  his  countrymen, 
the  men  of  ISTyassa,  on  their  neighbors.  Upon  finding  that 
his  application  for  a  discharge  was  successful,  "Wakotani 
endeavored  to  induce  Chumah,  another  protege  of  the  Doctor's, 
and  a  companion  or  chum  of  "Wakotani,  to  leave  the  Doctor's 
service  and  proceed  with  them,  promising  as  a  bribe  a  wife 


518  THE  ARAB'S  STOKY. 

and  plenty  of  pombe  from  his  "  big  brother."  Chumah,  upon 
referring  the  matter  to  the  Doctor,  was  advised  not  to  go,  as 
he  (the  Doctor)  strongly  suspected  that  Wakotani  wanted 
only  to  make  him  his  slave.  Chumah  wisely  withdrew  from 
his  tempter. 

From  Mponda's,  the  Doctor  proceeded  to  the  heel  of  the 
Nyassa,  to  the  village  of  a  Babisa  chief,  who  required  medi- 
cine for  a  skin  disease.  With  his  usual  kindness  he  stayed  at 
this  chief's  village  to  treat  his  malady.  While  here  a  half- 
caste  Arab  arrived  from  the  western  shore  of  the  lake,  who 
reported  that  he  had  been  plundered  by  a  band  of  Ma-zitu 
at  a  place  the  Doctor  and  Musa,  chief  of  the  Johanna  men, 
were  very  well  aware  was  at  least  one  hundred  and  fifty 
miles  north-west  of  where  they  were  then  stopping.  Musa, 
however,  for  his  own  reasons — which  will  appear  presently — 
eagerly  listened  to  the  Arab's  tale,  and  gave  full  credence  to 
it. 

Having  well  digested  its  horrifying  contents,  he  came  to 
the  Doctor  to  give  him  the  full  benefit  of  what  he  had  heard 
with  such  willing  ears.  The  traveler  patiently  listened  to 
the  narrative — which  lost  none  of  its  portentous  significance 
through  his  relation,  such  as  he  believed  it  bore  for  himself 
and  master — and  then  asked  Musa  if  he  believed  it. 

"  Yes,"  answered  Musa  readily ;  "  he  tell  me  true,  true. 
I  ask  him  good,  and  he  tell  me  true,  true." 

The  Doctor,  however,  said  he  did  not  believe  it,  for  the 
Ma-zitu  would  not  have  been  satisfied  with  simply  plunder- 
ing a  man ;  they  would  have  murdered  him ;  but  suggested, 
in  order  to  allay  the  fears  of  his  Moslem  subordinate,  that 
they  should  both  proceed  to  the  chief  with  whom  they  were 
staying,  who,  being  a  sensible  man,  would  be  able  to  advise 
them  as  to  the  probability  or  improbability  of  the  tale  being 
correct.  Together  they  proceeded  to  the  Babisa  chief,  who, 
•when  he  had  heard  the  Arab's  story,  unhesitatingly  de- 
nounced the  Arab  as  a  liar,  and  his  story  without  the  least 
foundation  in  fact ;  giving  as  a  reason,  that  if  the  Ma-zitu  had 
been  lately  in  that  vicinity  he  would  have  heard  of  it  soon 
enough.  But  Musa  broke  out  with — 


THE  HOMESICK  JOHANNA  MEN.  519 

"  No,  no,  Doctor  ;  no,  no,  no.  I  no  want  to  go  to  Ma-zitu. 
I  no  want  Ma-zitu  to  kill  me.  I  want  to  see  my  father,  my 
mother,  my  child  in  Johanna.  I  no  want  Ma-zitu  kill  me." 
Ipsissima  verba.  These  are  Musa's  words. 

To  which  the  Doctor  replied, 

"  I  don't  want  Ma-zitu  to  kill  me  either ;  but,  as  you  are 
afraid  of  them,  I  promise  to  go  straight  west  until  we  get 
far  past  the  beat  of  the  Ma-zitu." 

Musa  was  not  satisfied,  but  kept  moaning  and  sorrowing, 
saying, 

"If  we  had  two  hundred  guns  with  us  I  would  go, 
but  our  small  party  they  will  attack  by  night  and  kill  all." 

The  Doctor  repeated  his  promise, 

"  But  I  will  not  go  near  them  ;  I  will  go  west." 

As  soon  as  he  turned  his  face  westward,  Musa  and  the 
Johanna  men  ran  away  in  a  body.  The  Doctor  says,  in  com- 
menting upon  Musa's  conduct,  that  he  felt  strongly  tempted 
to  shoot  Musa  and  another  ringleader,  but  was,  nevertheless, 
glad  that  he  did  not  soil  his  hands  with  their  vile  blood. 

A  day  or  two  afterward  another  of  his  men — Simon  Price 
by  name —  came  to  the  Doctor  with  the  same  tale  about  the 
Ma-zitu,  but,  compelled  by  the  scant  number  of  his  people  to 
repress  all  such  tendencies  to  desertion  and  faint-heartedness, 
the  Doctor  "  shut  him  up  "  at  once,  and  forbade  him  to  utter 
the  name  of  the  Ma-zitu  any  more.  Had  the  natives  not 
assisted  him,  he  must  have  despaired  of  ever  being  able  to 
penetrate  the  wild  and  unexplored  interior  which  he  was  now 
about  to  tread. 

"  Fortunately,"  as  the  Doctor  says  with  unction,  "  I  was 
in  a  country  now,  after  leaving  the  shores  of  the  Nyassa, 
where  the  feet  of  the  slave  trader  had  not  trodden.  It  was  a 
new  and  virgin  land,  and,  of  course,  as  I  have  always  found  it 
in  such  cases,  the  natives  were  really  good  and  hospitable, 
and  for  very  small  portions  of  cloth  my  baggage  was  con- 
veyed from  village  to  village  by  them."  In  many  other 
ways  the  traveler  in  his  extremity  was  kindly  treated  by  the 
undefiled  and  unspoiled  natives. 


520  THE  EXPEDITION  IX  TROUBLE. 

On  leaving  this  hospitable  region  in  the  early  part  of 
December,  1866,  the  Doctor  entered  a  country  where  the 
Mu-zitu  had  exercised  their  customary  spoliating  propensities. 
The  land  was  swept  clean  of  all  provisions  and  cattle,  and 
the  people  had  emigrated  to  other  countries  beyond  the 
bounds  of  these  ferocious  plunderers.  Again  the  expedition 
was  besieged  by  famine  and  was  reduced  to  great  extremity. 
To  satisfy  the  pinching  hunger  it  suffered  it  had  recourse 
to  wild  fruits,  which  some  parts  of  the  country  furnished. 
At  intervals  the  condition  of  the  hard-pressed  band  was 
made  worse  by  the  heartless  desertion  of  some  of  its  mem- 
bers, who  more  than  once  departed  with  the  Doctor's  personal 
kit — changes  of  clothes  and  linen,  etc.  With  more  or  less 
misfortunes  constantly  dogging  his  footsteps,  he  traversed  in 
safety  the  countries  of  the  Babisa,  Bobemba,  Barungn, 
Baulungu  and  Londa. 

In  the  country  of  Londa  lives  the  famous  Cazembe — 
made  known  to  Europeans  first  by  Dr.  Lacerda,  the  Portu- 
guese traveler.  Cazembe  is  a  most  intelligent  prince;  is  a 
tall  stalwart  man,  who  wears  a  peculiar  kind  of  dress,  made 
of  crimson  print,  in  the  form  of  a  prodigious  kilt.  The  mode 
of  arranging  it  is  most  ludicrous.  All  the  folds  of  this 
enormous  kilt  are  massed  in  front,  which  causes  him  to  look 
as  if  the  peculiarities  of  the  human  body  were  reversed  in 
his  case.  The  abdominal  parts  are  thus  covered  with  a 
balloon-like  expansion  of  cloth,  while  the  lumbar  region, 
which  is  by  us  jealously  clothed,  with  him  is  only  half  draped 
by  a  narrow  curtain  which  by  no  means  suffices  to  obscure 
its  naturally  fine  proportions. 

In  this  state  dress  King  Cazembe  received  Dr.  Living- 
stone, surrounded  by  his  chiefs  and  body  guards.  A  chief, 
who  had  been  deputed  by  the  King  and  elders  to  find  out  all 
about  the  white  man,  then  stood  up  before  the  assembly  and 
in  a  loud  voice  gave  the  result  of  the  inquiry  he  had  insti- 
tuted. 

He  had  heard  the  white  man  had  come  to  look  for 
waters,  for  rivers  and  seas.  Though  he  did  not  under- 


THE  QUEEN'S  GUARD  OF  AMAZONS.          521 

stand  what  the  -white  man  could  want  with  such  things,  he 
had  no  doubt  that  the  object  was  good.  Then  Cazembe 
asked  what  the  Doctor  proposed  doing  and  where  he  thought 
of  going.  The  Doctor  replied  that  he  had  thought  of  going 
south,  as  he  had  heard  of  lakes  and  rivers  being  in  that 
direction.  Cazembe  asked : — 

"  What  can  you  want  to  go  there  for  ?  The  water  is  close 
here.  There  is  plenty  of  large  water  in  this  neighborhood." 

Before  breaking  up  the  assembly  Cazembe  gave  orders  to 
let  the  white  man  go  where  he  would  through  his  country, 
undisturbed  and  unmolested.  He  was  the  first  Englishman 
he  had  seen,  he  said,  and  he  liked  him. 

Shortly  after  his  introduction  to  the  King,  the  Queen 
entered  the  large  house,  surrounded  by  a  body  guard  of 
Amazons  armed  with  spears.  She  was  a  fine,  tall,  handsome 
young  woman,  and  evidently  thought  she  was  about  to  make 
a  great  impression  upon  the  rustic  white  man,  for  she  had 
clothed  herself  after  a  most  royal  fashion,  and  was  armed 
with  a  ponderous  spear.  But  her  appearance,  so  different 
from  what  the  Doctor  had  imagined,  caused  him  to  laugh, 
which  entirely  spoiled  the  effect  intended ;  for  the  laugh  of 
the  Doctor  was  so  contagious  that  she  herself  was  the  first 
who  imitated,  and  the  Amazons,  courtier-like,  followed  suit. 

Much  disconcerted  by  this,  the  Queen  ran  back,  followed 
by  her  obedient  damsels — a  retreat  most  undignified  and 
unqueenlike  compared  to  her  majestic  advent  into  the 
Doctor's  presence. 

Soon  after  his  arrival  in  the  country  of  Londa,  or  Lunda, 
and  before  he  had  entered  the  district  of  Cazembe,  he  had 
crossed  a  river  called  the  Chambezi,  which  was  quite  an 
important  stream.  The  similarity  of  the  name  with  that 
large  and  noble  river  south,  which  will  be  forever  connected 
with  his  name,  misled  Livingstone  at  that  time,  and  he  accord- 
ingly did  not  pay  it  the  attention  it  deserved,  believing  that 
the  Chambezi  was  but  the  headwaters  of  the  Zambesi,  and 
consequently  had  no  bearing  or  connection  with  the  sources 
of  the  river  of  Egypt,  of  which  he  was  in  search.  His  fault 
27 


522  "WATER  ON  THE  BRAIX." 

was  in  relying  too  implicitly  upon  the  correctness  of  Portu- 
guese information.  This  error  cost  him  many  months  of 
tedious  labor  and  travel. 

From  the  beginning  of  1867 — the  time  of  his  arrival  at 
Cazembe — to  the  middle  of  March,  1869 — the  time  of  his 
arrival  in  Ujiji — he  was  mostly  engaged  in  correcting  the 
errors  and  corruptions  of  the  Portuguese  travelers.  The 
Portuguese,  in  speaking  of  the  River  Chambezi,  invariably 
spoke  of  it  as  "our  own  Zambesi" — that  is,  the  Zambesi 
which  flows  through  the  Portuguese  possessions  of  the  Moz- 
ambique. 

"  In  going  to  Cazembe  from  Nyassa,"  said  they,  "  you  will 
cross  our  own  Zambesi." 

Such  positive  and  reiterated  information  like  this,  not  only 
orally  but  in  their  books  and  maps,  was  naturally  confusing. 
"When  the  Doctor  perceived  that  what  he  saw  and  what  they 
described  was  at  variance,  out  of  a  sincere  wish  to  be  correct, 
and,  lest  he  might  have  teen  mistaken  himself,  he  started  to 
re-travel  the  ground  he  had  traveled  before ;  over  and  over 
again  he  traversed  the  several  countries  watered  by  the 
several  rivers  of  the  complicated  water  system,  like  an  uneasy 
spirit ;  over  and  over  again  he  asked  the  same  questions  from 
the  different  people  he  met  until  he  was  obliged  to  desist, 
lest  they  might  say, 

"  The  man  is  mad ;  he  has  got  water  on  the  brain." 

But  these  travels  and  tedious  labors  of  his  in  Londa  and 
adjacent  countries  have  established,  beyond  doubt,  first,  that 
the  Chambezi  is  a  totally  distinct  river  from  the  Zambesi  of 
the  Portuguese ;  and,  secondly,  that  the  Chambezi  starting 
from  about  latitude*  eleven  degrees  south,  is  none  other 
than  the  most  southern  feeder  of  the  great  Kile,  thus 
giving  this  famous  river  a  length  of  over  two  thousand 
six  hundred  miles  of  direct  latitude,  making  it  second  to 
the  Mississippi,  the  longest  river  in  the  world. 

The  real  and  true  name  of  the  Zambesi  is  Dombazi. 
"When  Lacerda  and  his  Portuguese  successors  came  to  Caz- 
embe, crossed  the  Chambezi  and  heard  its  name,  they  very 


THE  CHAMBEZI  A  FEEDER  OF  THE  NILE.  523 

naturally  set  it  down  as  "  our  own  Zambesi,"  and  without 
further  inquiry  sketched  it  as  running  in  that  direction. 

During  his  researches  in  that  region,  so  pregnant  in  dis- 
coveries, Livingstone  came  to  a  lake  lying  northeast  of1 
Cazembe,  which  the  natives  called  Liemba,  from  the  country 
of  that  name,  which  bordered  it  on  the  east  and  south.  In1 
tracing  the  lake  north  he  found  it  to  be  none  other  than  the 
Tanganyika,  or  the  southeastern  extremity  of  it,  which  looks 
on  the  Doctor's  map  very  much  like  an  outline  of  Italy.  The 
latitude  of  the  southern  end  of  this  great  body  of  water  is 
about  nine  degrees  south,  which  gives  it  thus  a  length,  from 
north  to  south,  of  three  hundred  and  sixty  geographical 
miles. 

From  the  southern  extremity  of  the  Tanganyika,  he  crossed 
Marungu  and  came  in  sight  of  Lake  Moero.  Tracing  this 
lake",  which  is  about  sixty  miles  in  length,  to  its  southern 
head,  he  found  a  river  called  the  Luapula  entering  it  from 
that  direction.  Following  the  Luapula  south,  he  found  it 
issue  from  the  large  lake  of  Bangweolo,  which  is  as  large  in 
superficial  area  as  Tanganyika.  In  exploring  for  the  waters- 
which  emptied  into  the  lake,  he  found  by  far  the  most  impor- 
tant of  these  feeders  was  the  Chambezi.  So  that  he  had  thus 
traced  the  Chambezi  from  its  source  to  Lake  Bangweolo,  and 
its  issue  from  its  northern  head  under  the  name  of  Luapula, ; 
and  found  it  enter  Lake  Moero. 

Again  he  returned  to  Cazembe,  well  satisfied  that  the  river 
running  north  through  three  degrees  of  latitude  could  not  be 
the  river  running  south  under  the  name  of  the  Zambesi, 
though  there  might  be  a  remarkable  resemblance  in  their 
names. 

At  Cazembe,  he  found  an  old,  white-bearded  half-caste, 
named  Mohammed  ben  Salih,  who  was  kept  as  a  kind  of 
prisoner  at  large  by  the  King,  because  of  certain  suspicious  • 
circumstances  attending  his  advent  and  stay  in  his  coun- 
try. Through  Livingstone's  influence  Mohammed  ben  Salih 
obtained  his  release.  On  the  road  to  Ujiji  he  had  bitter 
cause  to  regret  having  exerted  himself  in  the  half-caste's 


524:  THE  UNGRATEFUL  HALF-CASTE. 

behalf.  He  turned  out  to  be  a  most  ungrateful  wretch,  who 
poisoned  the  minds  of  the  Doctor's  few  followers,  and 
ingratiated  himself  in  their  favor  by  selling  the  favors  of  his 
concubines  to  them,  thus  reducing  them  to  a  kind  of  bondage 
tinder  him.  From  the  day  he  had  the  vile  old  man  in  his 
company,  manifold  and  bitter  misfortunes  followed  the 
Doctor  up  to  his  arrival  in  Ujiji,  in  March,  1869. 

From  the  date  of  his  arrival  until  the  end  of  June  (1869) 
he  remained  in  Ujiji,  whence  he  dated  those  letters  which, 
though  the  outside  world  still  doubted  his  being  alive,  satis- 
fied the  minds  of  the  Royal  Geographical  people  and  his 
intimate  friends  that  he  was  alive,  and  Musa's  tale  an  ingen- 
ious but  false  fabrication  of  a  cowardly  deserter.  It  was  dur- 
ing this  time  that  the  thought  occurred  to  him  of  sailing  around 
the  Lake  Tankanyika,  but  the  Arabs  and  natives  were  so  bent 
upon  fleecing  him  that,  had  he  undertaken  it,  the  remainder 
of  his  goods  would  not  have  enabled  him  to  explore  the 
central  line  of  drainage,  the  initial  point  of  which  he  found 
far  south  of  Cazembe,  in  about  latitude  eleven  degrees,  in 
the  river  Chambezi. 

In  the  days  when  tired  Captain  Burton  was  resting  in 
Ujiji,  after  his  march  from  the  coast  near  Zanzibar,  the  land 
to  which  Livingstone,  on  his  departure  from  Ujiji,  bent  his 
steps  was  unknown  to  the  Arabs  save  by  vague  report. 
Messrs.  Burton  and  Speke  never  heard  of  it,  it  seems. 
Speke,  who  was  the  geographer  of  Burton's  expedition, 
heard  of  a  place  called  Uvira,  which  he  placed  on  his  map 
according  to  the  general  direction  indicated  by  the  Arabs ; 
but  the  most  enterprising  of  the  Arabs,  in  their  search  after 
ivory,  only  touched  the  frontiers  of  Rua,  as  the  natives  and 
Livingstone  call  it ;  for  Rua  is  an  immense  country,  with  a 
length  of  six  degrees  of  latitude,  and,  as  yet,  an  undefined 
breadth  from  east  to  west. 

At  the  end  of  June,  1869,  Livingstone  took  dhow  at  Ujiji 
and  crossed  over  to  Uguhha,  on  the  western  shore,  for  his 
last  and  greatest  series  of  explorations,  the  results  of  which 
were  the  discovery  of  a  series  of  lakes  of  great  magnitude, 


MOERO  SCENERY.  52$ 

connected  together  by  a  large  river  called  by  different  names 
as  it  left  one  lake  to  flow  to  another.  From  the  port  of 
Uguhha,  he  set  off  in  company  with  a  body  of  traders,  in  an 
almost  direct  westerly  course,  through  the  lake  country  of 
Uguhha.  Fifteen  days  inarch  brought  them  to  Bambarre, 
the  first  important  ivory  depot  in  Manyema,  or,  as  the  natives 
pronounce  it,  Manuyema. 

For  nearly  six  months  he  was  detained  at  Bambarre,  from 
ulcers  in  the  feet,  with  copious  discharges  of  bloody  ichor 
oozing  from  the  sores  as  soon  as  he  set  his  feet  on  the 
ground.  When  well,  he  set  off  in  a  northerly  direction,  and, 
after  several  days,  came  to  a  broad,  lacustrine  river,  called 
the  Lualaba,  flowing  northward  and  westward,  and,  in  some 
places  southward,  in  a  most  confusing  way.  The  river 
was  from  one  to  three  miles  broad.  By  exceeding  pertinacity 
he  contrived  to  follow  its  erratic  course  until  he  saw  the 
Lualaba  enter  the  narrow  but  lengthy  Lake  of  Kamolondo, 
in  about  latitude  six  degrees  thirty  minutes  south.  Retrac- 
ing it  south,  he  came  to  the  point  where  he  had  seen  the 
Luapula  enter  Lake  Moero. 

One  feels  quite  enthusiastic  when  listening  to  Livingstone's 
description  of  the  beauties  of  Moero  scenery.  Pent  in  on 
all  sides  by  high  mountains  clothed  to  their  tips  with  the  richest 
vegetation  of  the  tropics,  Moero  discharges  its  superfluous 
waters  through  a  deep  rent  in  the  bosom  of  the  mountains. 
The  impetuous  and  grand  river  roars  through  the  chasm 
with  the  thunder  of  a  cataract ;  but  soon  after  leaving  its 
confined  and  deep  bed  it  expands  into  the  calm  and  broad 
Lualaba — expanding  over  miles  of  ground,  making  great 
bends  west  and  southwest,  then,  curving  northward,  enters 
Kamolondo.  By  the  natives  it  is  called  the  Lualaba,  but  the 
Doctor,  in  order  to  distinguish  it  from  other  rivers  of  the 
game  name,  has  given  it  the  name  of  "Webb's  River,  after 
Mr.  "Webb,  the  wealthy  proprietor  of  Newstead  Abbey,  whom 
the  Doctor  distinguishes  as  one  of  his  oldest  and  most  con- 
sistent friends. 

Away  to  the  southwest  from  Kamolondo  is  another  large 


526  A  TRIBUTE  TO  LINCOLN. 

lake,  which  discharges  its  waters  by  the  important  river 
Locki,  or  Lomami,  into  the  great  Lnalaba.  To  this  lake, 
known  as  Chebungo  by  the  natives,  Dr.  Livingstone  has 
given  the  name  of  Lincoln,  to  be  hereafter  distinguished  on 
maps  and  in  books  as  Lake  Lincoln,  in  memory  of  Abraham 
Lincoln,  our  murdered  President.  This  was  done  from  the 
vivid  impression  produced  on  his  mind  by  hearing  a  portion 
of  his  inauguration  speech  read  from  an  English  pulpit,  which 
related  to  the  causes  that  induced  him  to  issue  his  emancipa- 
tion proclamation,  by  which  memorable  deed  four  million  of 
slaves  were  forever  freed.  To  the  memory  of  the  man  whose 
labors  in  behalf  of  the  negro  race  deserved  the  commenda- 
tion of  all  good  men,  Livingstone  has  contributed  a  monu- 
ment more  durable  than  brass  or  stone. 

Entering  Webb's  River  from  the  southwest,  a  little  north 
of  Kamolondo,  is  a  large  river  called  the  Lufira ;  but  the 
streams  that  discharge  themselves  from  the  watershed  into 
the  Lualaba  are  so  numerous  that  the  Doctor's  map  would  not 
contain  them  ;  so  he  has  left  all  out  except  the  most  important. 
Continuing  his  way  north,  tracing  the  Lualaba  through  its 
manifold  and  crooked  curves  as  far  as  latitude  four  degrees 
south,  he  came  to  another  large  lake  called  the  Unknown 
Lake;  but  here  you  may  come  to  a  dead  halt  and  read  it 
thus: — *  ***** 

Here  was  the  furthermost  point.  From  here  he  was  com- 
pelled to  return  on  the  weary  road  to  Ujiji,  a  distance  of  six 
hundred  miles. 

In  this  brief  sketch  of  Doctor  Livingstone's  wonderful 
travels,  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  most  superficial  reader,  as 
well  as  the  student  of  geography,  comprehends  this  grand 
system  of  lakes  connected  together  by  "Webb's  Eiver.  To 
assist  him,  let  him  procure  a  map  of  Africa,  by  Keith  Johnston, 
embracing  the  latest  discoveries.  Two  degrees  south  of  the 
Tanganyika,  and  two  degrees  west,  let  him  draw  the  outlines 
of  a  lake,  its  greatest  length  from  east  to  west,  and  let  him 
call  it  Bangweolo. 

One  degree  or  thereabout  to  the  northwest  let  him  sketch 


THE  TRUE  NILE.  527 

the  outlines  of  another  but  smaller  lake  and  call  it  Moero  ;  a 
degree  again  north  of  Moero  another  lake  of  similar  size, 
and  call  it  Kamolondo,  and  still  a  degree  north  of  Kamolondo 
another  lake,  large  and  of  undefined  limits,  which,  in  the 
absence  of  any  specific  term,  we  will  call  the  Nameless  Lake. 
Then  let  him  connect  these  several  lakes  by  a  river  called 
after  different  names ;  thus,  the  main  feeder  of  Bangweolo, 
the  Chambezi ;  the  river  which  issues  out  of  Bangweolo  and 
runs  into  the  Moero,  the  Luapula ;  the  river  connecting 
Moero  with  Kamolondo,  Webb's  River ;  that  which  runs  from 
Kamolondo,  into  the  Nameless  Lake  northward,  the  Lualaba ; 
and  let  him  write  in  bold  letters  over  the  rivers  Chambezi, 
Luapula,  Webb's  Eiver,  and  the  Lualaba  "  THE  NILE,"  for 
these  are  all  one  and  the  same  river. 

Again,  west  of  Moero  Lake,  about  one  degree  or  therea- 
bouts, another  large  lake  may  be  placed  on  his  map,  with  a 
river  running  diagonally  across  to  meet  the  Lualaba  north  of 
Lake  Kamolondo.  This  new  lake  is  Lake  Lincoln,  and  the 
river  is  the  Lomami  River,  the  confluence  of  which  with  the 
Lualaba  is  between  Kamolondo  and  the  Nameless  Lake. 
Taken  altogether,  the  reader  may  be  said  to  have  a  very 
fair  idea  of  what  Doctor  Livingstone  has  been  doing  these 
long  years,  and  what  additions  he  has  made  to  the  study  of 
African  geography. 

That  this  river,  distinguished  under  several  titles,  flowing 
from  one  lake  into  another  in  a  northerly  direction,  with  all 
its  great  crooked  bends  and  sinuosities,  is  the  Nile,  the  true 
Nile,  the  Doctor  has  not  the  least  doubt.  For  a  long  time 
he  did  doubt,  because  of  its  deep  bends  and  curves — west, 
and  southwest  even — but  having  traced  it  from  its  headwaters, 
the  Chambezi  through  seven  degrees  of  latitude — that  is, 
from  latitude  eleven  degrees  south  to  a  little  north  of  latitude 
four  degrees  south —  he  has  been  compelled  to  come  to  the 
conclusion  that  it  can  be  no  other  river  than  the  Nile. 

He  had  thought  it  was  the  Congo,  but  he  has  discovered  the 
sources  of  the  Congo  to  be  the  Kasai  and  the  Quango,  two 
rivers  which  rise  on  the  western  side  of  the  Nile  watershed 


528  THE  SOURCES  OF  THE  COXGO. 

in  about  the  latitude  of  Bangweolo;  and  be  was  told  of 
another  river  called  the  Lubilash,  which  rose  from  the  north 
and  ran  west.  But  the  Lualaba,  the  Doctor  thinks,  cannot 
be  the  Congo,  from  its  great  size  and  body,  and  from  its 
steady  and  continual  flow  northward,  through  a  broad  and 
extensive  valley  bounded  by  enormous  mountains,  westerly 
and  easterly. 

The  altitude  of  the  most  northerly  point  to  which  the 
Doctor  traced  the  wonderful  river  was  a  little  over  two 
thousand  feet,  so  that  though  Baker  makes  out  his  lake  to  be 
two  thousand  and  seven  hundred  feet  above  the  sea,  yet  the 
Bahr  Ghazal,  through  which  Petherick's  branch  of  the  White 
Nile  issues  into  the  Nile,  is  only  a  little  over  two  thousand 
feet,  in  which  case  there  is  a  possibility  that  the  Lualaba  may 
be  none  other  than  Petherick's  branch. 

It  is  well  known  that  trading  stations  for  ivory  have  been 
established  for  about  five  hundred  miles  up  Petherick's 
branch.  We  must  remember  this  fact  when  told  that 
Gondokoro,  in  latitude  four  degrees  north,  is  two  thousand 
feet  above  the  sea,  and  latitude  four  degrees  south,  where 
the  Doctor  was  halted,  is  only  a  little  over  two  thousand  feet 
above  the  sea.  That  two  rivers,  said  to  be  two  thousand  feet 
above  the  sea,  separated  from  each  other  by  eight  degrees  of 
latitude,  are  the  same  stream,  may,  among  some  men,  be 
regarded  as  a  startling  statement.  But  we  must  restrain  mere 
expressions  of  surprise,  and  take  into  consideration  that  this 
mighty  and  broad  Lualaba  is  a  lacustrine  river — broader  than 
the  Mississippi — and  think  of  our  own  rivers,  which,  though 
shallow,  are  exceedingly  broad — instance  our  Platte  River 
flowing  across  the  prairies  of  Colorado  and  Nebraska  into 
the  Missouri.  We  must  wait  also  until  the  altitude  of  the 
two  rivers — the  Lualaba,  where  the  Doctor  halted,  and  the 
southern  point  on  the  Bahr  Ghazal,  where  Petherick  has 
been — are  known  with  perfect  accuracy. 

Webb's  River,  or  the  Lualaba,  from  Bangweolo  is  a 
lacustrine  river,  expanding  from  one  to  three  miles  in 
breadth.  At  intervals  it  forms  extensive  lakes,  then  con- 


DISCREPANCIES  ACCOUNTED  FOR.  529 

tracting  into  a  broad  river  it  again  forms  a  lake,  and  so  on  to 
latitude  f our  degrees  north ;  and  beyond  this  point  the  Doctor 
heard  of  a  large  lake  again  north.  Now,  for  the  sake  of  argu- 
ment, suppose  we  give  this  nameless  lake  a  length  of  four 
degrees  of  latitude,  as  it  may  be  the  one  discovered  by 
Piaggia,  the  Italian  traveler,  from  which  Petherick's  branch 
of  the  White  Nile  issues  out  through  reeds,  marshes  and 
the  Bahr  Ghazal  into  the  White  Nile  south  of  Gondokoro. 
By  this  method  we  can  suppose  the  rivers  one — for  the  lakes 
extending  over  so  many  degrees  of  latitude  would  obviate 
the  necessity  of  explaining  the  differences  of  altitude  that 
must  naturally  exist  between  the  points  of  a  river  eight 
degrees  of  latitude  apart.  Also,  that  Livingstone's  instru- 
ments for  observation  and  taking  altitude  may  have  been  in 
error,  and  this  is  very  likely  to  have  been  the  case,  subjected 
as  they  have  been  to  rough  handling  during  nearly  six  years 
of  travel. 

Despite  the  apparent  difficulty  about  the  altitude,  there  is 
another  strong  reason  for  believing  Webb's  River,  or  the 
Lualaba,  to  be  the  Nile.  The  watershed  of  this  river,  six 
hundred  miles  of  which  Livingstone  has  traveled,  is  drained 
by  a  valley  which  lies  north  and  south  between  the  eastern 
and  western  ranges  of  the  watershed.  This  valley  or  line  of 
drainage,  while  it  does  not  receive  the  Kasai  and  the  Quango, 
receives  rivers  flowing  from  a  great  distance  west — for 
instance,  the  important  tributaries  Lufira  and  Lomami,  and 
large  rivers  from  the  east,  such  as  the  Lindi  and  Luamo ;  and 
while  the  most  intelligent  Portuguese  travelers  and  traders 
state  that  the  Kasai,  the  Quango  and  Lubilash  are  the  head 
waters  of  the  Congo  river,  no  one  as  yet  has  started  the 
supposition  that  the  grand  river  flowing  north,  and  known  to 
the  natives  as  the  Lualaba,  was  the  Congo.  If  this  river  is 
not  the  Nile  where,  then,  are  the  headwaters  of  the  Nile  ? 

The  small  river  running  out  of  the  Victoria  Nyanza  and  the 
river  flowing  out  of  the  little  Lake  Albert  have  not  sufficient 
water  to  form  the  great  river  of  Egypt.  As  you  glide  down 
the  Nile,  and  note  the  Asna,  the  Geraffe,  the  Sobat,  the  Blue 


530  THE  XILE  PROBLEM  STILL  OPEN. 

Kile  and  Atbara,  and  follow  the  river  down  to  Egypt,  it  can- 
not fail  to  impress  you  that  it  requires  many  more  streams, 
or  one  large  river  larger  than  all  yet  discovered,  to  influence 
its  inundations  and  replace  the  waste  of  its  flow  through  a 
thousand  miles  of  desert. 

Perhaps  a  more  critical  survey  of  the  Bahr  Ghazal  would 
prove  that  the  Nile  is  influenced  by  the  waters  that  pour 
through  "  the  small  piece  of  water  resembling  a  duck  pond 
buried  in  a  sea  of  rushes,"  as  Speke  describes  the  Bahr 
Ghazal. 

Livingstone's  discovery  answers  the  question  and  satisfies 
the  intelligent  hundreds,  who,  though  Bruce  and  Speke  and 
Baker,  each  in  his  turn  had  declared  he  had  found  the  Nile, 
the  only  and  true  Nile  sources,  yet  doubted  and  hesitated  to 
accept  the  enthusiastic  assertions  as  a  final  solution  of  the 
Nile  problem.  Even  yet,  according  to  Livingstone,  the  Nile 
sources  have  not  been  found ;  though  he  has  traced  the 
Lualaba  through  seven  degrees  of  latitude  flowing  north,  and 
though  neither  he  nor  I  have  a  particle  of  doubt  of  its  being 
the  Nile,  not  yet  can  the  Nile  question  be  said  to  be  resolved 
and  ended,  for  three  reasons — 

first — He  has  heard  of  the  existence  of  four  fountains, 
two  of  which  give  birth  to  a  river  flowing  north — Webb's 
River,  or  the  Lualaba  ;  two  to  a  river  flowing  south,  which  is 
the  Zambesi.  He  has  heard  of  these  fountains  repeatedly 
from  the  natives.  Several  times  he  has  been  within  one 
hundred  and  two  hundred  miles  from  them,  but  something 
always  interposed  to  prevent  him  going  to  see  them.  Accord- 
ing to  those  who  have  seen  them,  they  rise  on  either  side  of 
a  mound  or  hill  which  contains  no  stones.  Some  have  even 
called  it  an  ant  hill.  One  of  these  fountains  is  said  to  be  so 
large  that  a  man  standing  on  one  side  cannot  be  seen  from 
the  other.  These  fountains  must  be  discovered,  and  their 
position  taken.  The  Doctor  does  not  suppose  them  to  lie 
south  of  the  feeders  of  Lake  Bangweolo. 

Second — Webb's  River  must  be  traced  to  its  connection 
with  some  portion  of  the  old  Nile. 


THE  GREAT  LACUSTRINE  RIVER.  531 

Third — The  connection  between  the  Tanganyika  and  the 
Albert  Nyanza  must  be  ascertained. 

When  these  three  things  have  been  accomplished,  then, 
and  not  till  then,  can  the  mystery  of  the  Nile  be  explained. 

The  two  countries  through  which  this  marvelous  lacustrine 
river — the  Lualaba — flows,  with  its  manifold  lakes  and  broad 
expanses  of  water,  are  Rua — the  Uruwa  of  Speke — and 
Manyema.  For  the  first  time  Europe  is  made  aware  that 
between  the  Tanganyika  and  the  known  sources  of  the  Congo, 
there  exist  teeming  millions  of  the  negro  race  who  never  saw 
or  heard  of  the  white  people  who  make  such  noisy  and  busy 
stir  outside  of  Africa.  Upon  the  minds  of  those  who  had 
the  good  fortune  to  see  the  first  specimen  of  these  remark- 
able white  races,  Livingstone  seems  to  have  made  a  favorable 
impression,  though,  through  misunderstanding  his  object  and 
coupling  him  with  the  Arabs  who  make  horrible  work  there, 
his  life  has  been  sought  after  more  than  once. 

These  two  extensive  countries,  Rua  and  Manyema,  are  popu- 
lated by  true  heathen — governed  not  as  the  sovereignties  of 
Karagwah  "Wumdi  and  Uganda,  by  despotic  kings,  but  each 
village  by  its  own  sultan  or  lord.  Thirty  miles  outside  of 
their  own  immediate  settlements  the  most  intelligent  of  these 
small  chiefs  seem  to  know  nothing.  Thirty  miles  from  the 
Lualaba  there  were  but  few  people  who  had  ever  heard  of  the 
great  river.  Such  ignorance  among  the  natives  of  their  own 
countries,  of  course,  increased  the  labors  of  Livingstone. 
Compared  with  these,  all  tribes  and  nations  in  Africa  with 
whom  Livingstone  came  in  contact  may  be  deemed  civilized. 

Tet  in  the  arts  of  home  manufacture  these  wild  people  of 
Manyema  are  far  superior  to  any  he  had  seen.  "When  other 
tribes  and  nations  contented  themselves  with  hides  and  skins 
of  animals  thrown  negligently  over  their  shoulders,  the  peo- 
ple of  Manyema  manufactured  a  cloth  from  fine  grass  which 
may  favorably  compare  with  the  finest  grass  cloth  of  India. 
They  also  know  the  art  of  dying  them  in  various  colors — 
black,  yellow,  and  purple.  The  Wanguana  or  freed  men  of 
Zanzibar,  struck  with  the  beauty  of  this  fine  grass  fabric, 


532  THE  IVORY  FEVER. 

eagerly  exchanged  tlieir  cotton  cloths  for  fine  grass  cloth,  and 
on  almost  every  black  man  returned  from  Manyema  I  have 
seen  this  native  cloth  converted  into  elegantly-made  short 
jackets. 

These  countries  are  also  very  rich  in  ivory.  The  fever  for 
going  to  Manyema,  to  exchange  their  tawdry  beads  for  the 
precious  tusks  of  Manyema,  is  of  the  same  kind  as  that  which 
impelled  men  to  the  gulches  and  placers  of  California,  Colo- 
rado, Montana  and  Idaho ;  after  nuggets  to  Australia,  and 
diamonds  to  Cape  Colony.  Manyema  is  at  present  the  El 
Dorado  of  the  Arabs  and  the  Wamrima  tribes.  It  is  only 
about  four  years  since  the  first  Arab  returned  from  Manyema, 
with  such  wealth  of  ivory  and  reports  about  the  fabulous 
quantities  found  there,  that  ever  since  the  old  beaten  tracks 
of  Karagwah,  Uganda,  Ufipa  and  Marungu  have  been  com- 
paratively deserted. 

The  people  of  Manyema,  ignorant  of  the  value  of  the 
precious  article,  reared  their  huts  upon  ivory  stanchions. 
Ivory  pillars  and  doors  were  common  sights  in  Manyema,  and, 
hearing  of  these,  one  can  no  longer  wonder  at  the  ivory 
palace  of  Solomon.  For  generations,  they  have  used  ivory 
tusks  as  doorposts  and  eave  stanchions,  until  they  had  become 
perfectly  rotten  and  worthless.  But  the  advent  of  the  Arabs 
soon  taught  them  the  value  of  the  article.  It  has  now  risen 
considerably  in  price,  though  yet  fabulously  cheap.  At  Zan- 
zibar the  value  of  ivory  per  frarsilah  of  thirty-five  pounds 
weight  is  from  fifty  dollars  to  sixty  dollars,  according  to  its 
quality.  In  Unyanyembe  it  is  aBout  one  dollar  and  ten  cents 
per  pound ;  but  in  Manyema  it  may  be  purchased  for  from 
half  a  cent  to  one  and  a  quarter  cent's  worth  of  copper  per 
pound  of  ivory. 

The  Arabs,  however,  have  the  knack  of  spoiling  markets 
by  their  rapacity  and  wanton  cruelty.  With  muskets,  a 
small  party  of  Arabs  are  invincible  against  such  people  as 
those  of  Manyema,  who,  until  lately,  never  heard  the  sound 
of  a  gun.  The  report  of  a  musket  inspires  mortal  terror  in 
them,  and  it  is  almost  impossible  to  induce  them  to  face  the 


SUPERSTITIONS  OF  THE  NATIVES.  533 

muzzle  of  a  gun,  They  believe  that  the  Arabs  have  stolen 
the  lightning,  and  that  against  such  people  the  bow  and  arrow 
can  have  but  little  effect.  They  are  by  no  means  devoid  of 
courage,  and  they  have  often  declared  that  were  it  not  for 
the  guns,  not  one  Arab  would  leave  the  country  alive ;  which 
tends  to  prove  that  they  would  willingly  engage  in  fight  with 
strangers,  who  have  made  themselves  so  detestable,  were  it 
not  that  the  startling  explosion  of  gunpowder  inspires  them 
with  such  terror. 

Into  whichever  country  the  Arabs  enter,  they  contrive  to 
render  their  name  and  race  abominated.  But  the  mainspring 
of  it  all  is  not  the  Arab's  nature,  color  or  name,  but  simply 
the  slave  trade.  So  long  as  the  slave  trade  is  permitted  to  be 
kept  up  at  Zanzibar,  so  long  will  these  otherwise  enterpris- 
ing people,  the  Arabs,  kindle  against  them  throughout  Africa 
the  hatred  of  the  natives.  On  the  main  lines  of  travel  from 
Zanzibar  into  the  interior  of  Africa  none  of  these  acts  of 
cruelty  are  seen,  for  the  very  good  reason  that  they  have 
armed  the  natives  with  guns  and  taught  them  how  to  use 
weapons,  which  they  are  by  no  means  loath  to  do  whenever 
an  opportunity  presents  itself.  "When  too  late,  when  they 
have  perceived  their  folly  in  selling  guns  to  the  natives,  the 
Arabs  repent,  and  begin  to  vow  signal  vengeance  on  the  per- 
son who  will  in  future  sell  a  gun  to  a  native.  But  they  are 
all  guilty  of  the  same  folly,  and  it  is  strange  they  did  not 
perceive  that  it  was  folly  when  they  were  doing  so. 

In  former  days  the  Arab,  protected  by  his  slave  escort 
armed  with  guns,  could  travel  through  Usegubha,  Urori- 
Ukonongo,  Ufiipa,  Karagwah,  Unyoro  and  Uganda,  with  only 
a  stick  in  his  hand  ;  now,  however,  it  is  impossible  for  him  or 
any  one  else  to  do  so.  Every  step  he  takes,  armed  or 
unarmed,  is  fraught  with  danger.  The  "Waseguhha  near 
the  coast  halt  him,  and  demand  the  tribute  or  give  him  the 
option  of  war:  entering  Ugogo  he  is  subjected  every  day  to 
the  same  oppressive  demand,  or  to  the  other  fearful  alterna- 
tive. The  "Wanyamuezi  also  show  their  readiness  to  take  the 
game  advantage,  the  road  to  Karagwah  is  besieged  with 


534:  PERILS  OF  THE  ROAD. 

difficulties  ;  the  terrible  Mirambo  stands  in  the  way,  defeats 
their  combined  forces  with  ease,  and  makes  raids  even  to  the 
doors  of  their  houses  in  Unyanyembe ;  and,  should  they  succeed 
in  passing  Mirambo,  a  chief  stands  before  them  who  demands 
tribute  by  the  bale,  against  whom  it  is  useless  to  contend. 

These  remarks  have  reference  to  the  slave  trade  inaugu- 
rated in  Manyema  by  the  Arabs.  Harassed  on  the  road 
between  Zanzibar  and  Unyanyembe,  minatory  natives  with 
bloody  hands  on  all  sides  ready  to  avenge  the  slightest  affront, 
the  Arabs  have  refrained  from  kidnapping  between  the  Tan- 
ganyika and  the  sea ;  but  in  Manyema,  where  the  natives  are 
timid,  irresolute,  and  divided  into  small,  weak-  tribes,  the 
Arabs  recover  their  audacity,  and  exercise  their  kidnapping 
propensities  unchecked. 

The  accounts  which  the  Doctor  brings  from  that  new 
region  are  most  deplorable.  He  was  an  unwilling  spectator 
of  a  horrible  deed — a  massacre  committed  on  the  inhabitants 
of  a  populous  district  who  had  assembled  in  the  market 
place,  on  the  banks  of  the  Lualaba,  as  they  had  been  accus- 
tomed to  for  ages.  It  seems  the  "Wa-Manyema  are  very  fond 
of  marketing,  believing  it  to  be  the  summum  bonum  of 
human  enjoyment.  They  find  unceasing  pleasure  in  chaffer- 
ing with  might  and  main  for  the  least  mite  of  their  currency 
— the  last  bead — and  when  they  gain  the  point  to  which  their 
peculiar  talents  are  devoted,  they  feel  intensely  happy.  The 
portion  are  excessively  fond  of  their  marketing,  and  as  they 
are  very  beautiful,  the  market  place  must  possess  considerable 
attractions  for  the  male  sex. 

It  was  on  such  a  day,  with  just  such  a  scene,  that  Tagomoyo, 
a  half-caste  Arab,  with  his  armed  slave  escort,  commenced  an 
indiscriminate  massacre  by  firing  volley  after  volley  into  the 
dense  mass  of  human  beings.  It  is  supposed  that  there  were 
about  two  thousand  present,"  and  at  the  first  sound  of  the 
firing  these  poor  people  all  made  a  rush  for  their  canoes.  In 
the  fearful  hurry  to  avoid  being  shot,  the  canoes  were  pad- 
dled away  by  the  first  fortunate  few  who  got  possession  of 
them.  Those  that  were  not  so  fortunate  sprang  into  the  deep 


THE  MANYEMA  WOMEN  AS  SLAVES.  535 

waters  of  the  Lualaba,  and,  though  many  of  them  became  an 
easy  prey  to  the  voracious  crocodiles  that  swarmed  to  the 
scene,  the  majority  received  their  deaths  from  the  bullets  of 
the  merciless  Tagomoyo  and  his  villianous  band. 

The  Doctor  believes,  as  do  the  Arabs  themselves,  that  about 
four  hundred  people,  mostly  women  and  children,  lost  their 
lives,  while  many  more  were  made  slaves.  The  scene  is  only 
one  of  many  such  which  he  has  unwillingly  witnessed,  and 
he  is  utterly  unable  to  describe  the  loathing  he  feels  for  the 
inhuman  perpetrators. 

Slaves  from  Manyema  command  a  higher  price  than  those 
of  any  other  country,  because  of  their  fine  forms  and  general 
docility.  The  women,  the  Doctor  says  repeatedly,  are 
remarkably  pretty  creatures,  and  have  nothing  except 
their  hair  in  common  with  the  negroids  of  the  West  Coast. 
They  are  of  very  light  color,  have  fine  noses,  well-cut  and 
not  over-full  lips,  and  a  prognathous  jaw  is  uncommon. 
These  women  are  eagerly  sought  after  for  wives  by  the  half- 
castes  of  the  East  Coast,  and  even  the  pure  Amani  Arabs  do 
not  disdain  connection  with  them. 

To  the  north  of  Manyema,  Livingstone  came  to  a  light- 
complexioned  race  of  the  color  of  the  Portuguese,  or  our 
own  Louisiana  quadroons,  wrho  are  very  fine  people,  and 
singularly  remarkable  for  commercial  "  cuteness  "  and  sagac- 
ity. The  women  are  expert  divers  for  oysters,  which  are 
found  in  great  abundance  in  the  Lualaba. 

Rua,  at  a  place  called  Katanga,  is  rich  in  copper.  The 
copper  mines  of  this  place  have  been  worked  for  ages.  In 
the  bed  of  a  stream  gold  has  been  found,  washed  down  in 
pencil-shaped  lumps,  or  particles  as  large  as  split  peas.  Two 
Arabs  have  gone  thither  to  prospect  for  this  metal,  but  as 
they  are  ignorant  of  the  art  of  gulch  mining,  it  is  scarcely 
possible  that  they  will  succeed. 

From  these  highly  important  and  interesting  discoveries 
Doctor  Livingstone  was  turned  back  when  almost  on  the 
threshold  of  success,  by  the  positive  refusal  of  his  men  to 
accompany  him  further.  They  were  afraid  to  go  unless 


536  THE  RETURN  OF  TITE  BAFFLED  EXPLORER 

accompanied  by  a  large  force  of  men,  and  as  these  were  not 
procurable  in  Manyema  the  Doctor  reluctantly  turned  his 
face  toward  Ujiji. 

It  was  a  long  and  weary  road  back.  The  journey  had  now 
no  interest  for  him.  He  had  traveled  it  before  when  going 
westward,  full  of  high  hopes  and  aspirations,  impatient  to 
reach  the  goal  which  promised  him  rest  from  his  labors ; 
now,  returning  unsuccessful,  baffled  and  thwarted,  when 
almost  in  sight  of  the  end,  and  having  to  travel  the 
same  road  back  on  foot,  with  disappointed  expectations  and 
defeated  hopes  preying  on  his  mind,  no  wonder  that  the 
brave  old  spirit  almost  succumbed,  and  the  strong  constitution 
almost  wrecked.  He  arrived  at  Ujiji,  October  26,  almost  at 
death's  door. 

On  the  way  he  had  been  trying  to  cheer  himself  up,  since 
he  had  found  it  impossible  to  contend  against  the  obstinacy 
of  his  men,  with  "It  won't  take  long,  five  or  six  months 
more ;  it  matters  not,  since  it  can't  be  helped.  I  have  got 
my  goods  in  Ujiji  and  I  can  hire  other  people  and  make  a 
new  start." 

These  are  the  words  and  hopes  with  which  he  tried  to 
delude  himself  into  the  idea  that  all  would  be  right  yet ;  but 
imagine,  if  you  can  the  shock  he  must  have  suffered  when  he 
found  that  the  man  to  whom  was  entrusted  his  goods  for 
safe  keeping,  had  sold  every  bale  for  ivory. 

The  evening  of  the  day  Livingstone  returned  to  Ujiji,  Susi 
and  Chuma,  two  of  his  most  faithful  men,  were  seen  crying 
bitterly.  The  Doctor  asked  them  what  ailed  them,  and  was 
then  informed  for  the  first  time  of  the  evil  tidings  that 
awaited  him.  Said  they : — 

"  All  our  things  are  sold,  sir.  Shereef  has  sold  everything 
for  ivory." 

Later  in  the  evening  Shereef  came  to  see  him,  and  shame- 
lessly offered  his  hand,  with  a  salutatory,  "  Yambo." 

Livingstone  refused  his  hand,  saying  he  could  not  shake 
hands  with  a  thief.  As  an  excuse  Shereef  said  he  had 
divined  on  the  Koran,  and  that  had  told  him  the  Hakim 
(Arabic  for  Doctor)  was  dead. 


THE  RENDEZVOUS  AT  UJIJI.  537 

Livingstone  was  now  destitute.  He  had  just  enough  to 
keep  him  and  his  men  alive  for  about  a  month,  after  which 
he  would  be  forced  to  beg  from  the  Arabs.  He  had  arrived 
in  Ujiji,  October  26th.  The  Herald  Expedition  arrived  Novem - 
ber  10th,  from  the  coast — only  sixteen  days  difference.  Had  I 
not  deen  delayed  at  Unyanyembe  by  the  war  with  Mirambo 
I  should  have  gone  on  to  Manyema,  and  very  likely  have 
been  traveling  by  one  road,  while  he  would  have  been  com- 
ing by  another  to  Ujiji.  Had  I  gone  on  two  years  ago,  when 
I  first  received  the  instructions,  I  should  have  lost  him  with- 
out doubt.  But  I  was  detained  by  a  series  of  circumstances, 
which  chafed  and  fretted  me  considerably  at  the  time,  only 
to  permit  him  to  reach  Ujiji  sixteen  days  before  I  appeared. 
It  was  as  if  we  were  marching  to  meet  together  at  an 
appointed  rendezvous — the  one  from  the  west,  the  other 
from  the  east. 

The  Doctor  had  heard  of  a  white  man  being  at  Unyan- 
yembe, who  was  said  to  have  boats  with  him,  and  he  had 
thought  he  was  another  traveler  sent  by  the  French  govern- 
ment to  replace  Lieutenant  Le  Sainte,  who  died  from  fever  a 
few  miles  above  Gondokoro.  I  had  not  written  to  him  because 
I  believed  him  to  be  dead,  and  of  course  my  sudden  entrance 
into  Ujiji  was  as  great  a  surprise  to  him  as  it  was  to  the 
Arabs.  But  the  sight  of  the  American  flag,  which  he  saw 
waving  in  the  van  of  the  expedition,  indicated  that  one  was 
coming  who  could  speak  his  own  language,  and  you  know 
already  how  the  leader  was  received. 
28 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 
THE  RETURN  TO  ZANZIBAR 

AFTER  arriving  at  Ujiji  from  the  exploration  of  Lake 
Tanganyika,  preparations  were  made  for  the  return  jour- 
ney. It  was  proposed  to  Livingstone  that  he  should  embrace  so 
favorable  an  opportunity  for  returning  to  the  Coast  and  Eng- 
land, but  he  was  not  ready  to  relinquish  the  work  he  had 
marked  out  for  himself.  He  decided,  however,  to  accompany 
Stanley  as  far  as  Unyanyembe,  to  secure  the  supplies  which 
had  been  sent  to  him  from  Zanzibar.  In  the  meantime  he  was 
very  busy  writing  letters  to  be  forwarded  by  Mr.  Stanley. 

Christmas  was  at  hand,  and  of  course  had  to  be  celebrated  in 
the  good  old  English  way.  Nor  can  we  doubt  that  an  invit- 
ing feast  was  spread  out  for  the  occasion.  "  The  best  which 
the  Ujijian  markets  offered,"  added  to  the  stores  brought  by 
Stanley,  furnished  ample  material  for  a  Christmas  dinner 
such  as  was  never  before  seen  at  Ujiji,  and  Livingstone  and 
his  guest  did  full  justice  to  the  good  things  provided. 

"What  a  contrast  between  this  Christmas  dinner  and  that 
to  which  Dr.  Kane  and  his  homesick  crew  sat  down  seven- 
teen years  before  amid  the  darkness  of  an  Arctic  winter,  where 
they  had  been  imprisoned  for  over  fifteen  months  with  no 
possibility  of  escaping  for  many  more !  "  We  passed  around 
merrily  our  turkeys  roast  and  boiled,  roast-beef,  onions,  pota- 
toes and  cucumbers,  water-melons,  and  God  knows  what  other 
cravings  of  the  scurvy-sickened  palate,  with  entire  exclusion 
of  the  fact  that  each  one  of  these  was  variously  represented 

538 


TWO  CHRISTMAS  DINNERS. 

by  pork  and  beans.  Lord  Peter  himself  was  not  more  cor- 
dial in  his  dispensation  of  plum-pudding,  mutton,  and  custard 
to  his  unbelieving  brothers. 

"  M cGary,  of  course,  told  us  his  story :  we  hear  it  every 
day,  and  laugh  at  it  almost  as  heartily  as  he  does  himself. 
Caesar  Johnson  is  the  guest  of  '  Ole  Ben,'  colored  gentlemen 
both,  who  do  occasional  white-washing.  The  worthies  have 
dined  staunchly  on  the  dish  of  beans,  browned  and  relished  by 
its  surmounting  cube  of  pork..  A  hospitable  pause,  and,  with 
a  complacent  wave  of  the  hand,  Ole  Ben  addresses  the  lady 
hostess : — '  Ole  woman  !  bring  on  de  resarve.'  '  Ha'n't  got  no 
resarve.'  'Well,  den,' — with  a  placid  smile,- — 'bring  de  beans ! " 

The  Christmas  festivities  over,  everything  was  ready  for  a 
start,  which  was  made  on  the  26th  of  December,  1871,  It 
had  been  decided  to  leave  ITiiii  bv  another  route  than  that 

•i   *i  «/ 

by  which  Stanley  had  entered  it,  in  order  to  escape  the  wars 
and  avaricious  tribes  as  far  as  possible. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  when  the  expedition  was  going 
to  Ujiji,  a  question  arose,  on  its  arrival  in  the  Rusawa  dis- 
trict, as  to  which  of  two  routes  it  was  then  best  to  take — the 
one  leading  northward  to  the  Malagarazi  River,  and  thence 
westward  to  Ujiji ;  or  the  one  leading  directly  west  to  the 
Tanganyika,  which  would  strike  the  lake  at  Urimba.  In 
going  to  Ujiji  the  former  route  was  taken ;  in  returning  the 
latter  one  was  decided  on. 

The  road  as  sketched  out  and  accomplished  by  the  travel- 
e,rs  was  as  follows : — 

Seven  days  by  water  south  to  Urimba. 

Ten  days  across  the  uninhabited  forests  of  Ukawendi. 

Twenty  days  through  Ukonongo,  directly  east. 

Twelve  days  north  through  Ukonongo. 

Thence  five  days  into  Unyanyembe. 

Urimba  is  the  name  of  a  village  situated  on  the  eastern 
coast  of  Lake  Tanganyika  sixty  miles  south  of  Ujiji.  To  this 
place  the  travelers  were  rowed  in  canoes,  and  here  Stanley 
bade  farewell  to  the  lake,  and  started  eastward  through  the 
jungles  of  Ukawendi. 


54:2  PICTURES  OF  TRAVEL. 

On  reaching  the  Rusawa  district,  the  party  found  them- 
selves in  their  old  tracks,  and  from  this  time  their  route  to 
Unyanyembe  was  the  same  as  that  by  which  they  had  come. 
The  travelers  arrived  safely  at  Unyanyembe  on  the  18th  of 
February,  "  without,"  as  Mr.  Stanley  says,  "  adventures  of 
any  kind  excepting  killing  zebras,  buffaloes,  and  giraffes,  after 
fifty-four  days'  travel."  The  expedition  suffered  considerably 
from  scarcity  of  food,  and  fever,  but  Dr.  Livingstone  walked 
the  whole  distance. 

Mr.  Stanley,  in  one  of  his  speeches  in  England,  thus  graph- 
ically pictures  the  feelings  and  life  of  men  tramping  onward 
through  the  wilds  of  Inner  Africa,  as  he  and  Livingstone  did 
all  the  way  from  Ujiji  to  Unyanyembe  : — 

"  You  are  constantly  thinking  of  your  own  country.  Half 
of  the  day,  even  on  the  march,  you  put  your  head  down,  and, 
with  your  stick  in  your  hand,  you  march  on.  The  sun  beats 
on  you  and  the  great  forest  rubs  you  up.  The  men  are  all 
silent,  too,  and  their  nature  is  to  think  of  their  wives  and  the 
little  ones  they  left  behind.  In  the  same  way,  when  you  think 
also  of  that  country  you  love  to  call  your  own,  you  show 
yourself  part  and  parcel  of  the  human  nature  with  which  you 
are  surrounded. 

"  When  we  start  from  our  camp  in  the  morning,  and  give 
the  word  to  march,  it  is  tramp,  tramp,  tramp  in  dead  silence, 
in  Indian  tile,  through  the  forest.  Every  now  and  then  some 
fellow  has  a  happy  thought,  and  immediately  breaks  into  a 
song.  Then  the  whole  caravan  breaks  out  into  song,  and  the 
great  forest  rings  with  the  chorus.  "When  the  song  is  ended 
we  go  on  in  that  silent  Indian  file  again  till  perhaps  we  sight 
a  village.  "We  do  not  know  what  the  village  is.  Is  it  hostile, 
or  is  it  friendly  ?  Those  are  the  first  questions  we  ask  each 
other.  And  the  way  to  find  that  out  is  to  break  into  song. 
The  natives  hear  the  strains.  If  they  are  friendly  they  come 
out  and  join  us ;  if  they  are  hostile  they  shut  the  doors,  and 
as  we  file  past  the  wicket  and  the  fences  we  see  the  scowling 
faces  behind  the  palisades. 

"  Then  we  get  into  camp.     'Now,  boys,'  I  say,  'pitch  the 


NEWS  FROM  HOME— THE  DIARY  SAVED.  545 

tent  and  let  us  have  a  cup  of  tea.'  That  tea  is  all  our  re- 
freshment. It  is  our  beer,  our  champagne  and  our  wine ;  and 
after  the  tea  we  lie  down  on  the  katanda,  take  out  our  pipes 
and  smoke.  After  a  smoke  we  take  out  our  note  books  and 
make  a  record  of  everything  we  have  found  out  on  the  road. 
That  would  probably  take  an  hour  or  half  an  hour,  and  it  is 
hard  work." 

The  travelers  were  cordially  welcomed  at  Unyanyembe,  and 
were  soon  comfortably  ensconced  in  Stanley's  former  quar- 
ters at  Kwihara,  where  they  enjoyed  a  season  of  rest  after 
their  long  march  from  Ujiji.  Here,  too,  they  were  rejoiced 
to  find  letters  and  newspapers  awaiting  them,  all  of  which 
were  perused  with  much  relish. 

They  were  saddened,  however,  at  learning  that  Mr.  Shaw 
had  died  in  about  one  month  after  returning  to  Unyanyembe, 
as  well  as  two  others  of  the  expedition,  who  had  been  left  be- 
hind art  that  place  sick.  The  Mirambo  panic  had  abated. 

As  Dr.  Livingstone  could  not  be  induced  to  accompany 
Stanley  to  the  coast,  the  travelers  were  now  obliged  to  part 
— one  to  rush  to  the  nearest  telegraph  station,  the  other  to 
plunge  again  into  the  howling  wilderness. 

On  the  fourteenth  day  of  March,  1872,  Mr.  Stanley  started 
from  Unyanyembe  on  his  return  to  the  coast.  He  was  the 
bearer  of  many  letters  written  by  Livingstone,  and  also  of 
his  diary,  which  was  carefully  sealed  up,  put  in  a  box,  and 
carried  by  one  of  the  most  reliable  men.  It  was  directed  to 
Livingstone's  daughter  in  Scotland,  writh  instructions  that  it 
should  not  be  opened  until  after  his  return  or  death. 

This  diary  came  near  being  lost.  In  fording  the  Mukon- 
dokwa  River,  the  man  who  was  carrying  it  on  his  head  got 
into  deep  water,  and  came  near  being  overwhelmed  by  the 
flood.  Mr.  Stanley,  fearing  that  he  was  about  to  let  go,  pre- 
sented a  cocked  pistol  at  his  head,  and  threatened  to  blow 
out  his  brains  if  he  yielded  his  hold.  The  pistol  had  a  greater 
terror' than  the  water;  and  the  man,  making  a  desperate 
struggle,  got  the  box  safely  ashore. 

As  the  men  were  homeward  bound  their  progress  was 


546  LT.  HENX'S  WELCOME. 

rapid.  Messengers,  however,  were  sent  ahead  to  announce 
the  approach  of  the  expedition.  When  four  days  from  the 
coast  Stanley  heard  that  there  were  many  white  men  at  Bag- 
amoyo,  and  on  asking  who  they  were,  was  assured  that  "  they 
were  about  starting  to  hunt  up  Stanley."  This  was  a  great 
surprise  to  the  traveler,  for  till  then  he  had  not  been  aware 
that  he  was  lost.  The  strangers  proved  to  be  members  of 
the  English  Search  Expedition ,  then  quartered  at  Bagamoyo. 

At  sunset  on  the  sixth  of  May,  shots,  accompanied  by  the 
blowing  of  horns,  were  heard  outside  of  the  village,  and  soon 
Mr.  Stanley  and  his  party  were  seen  approaching,  the  Amer- 
ican flag  carried  at  the  front. 

As  Stanley  approached  the  quarters  of  the  English  Expe- 
dition, he  saw  a  white  man,  in  white  flannels,  with  a  sort  of 
ornamental  air  about  him,  standing  on  the  door  step,  who 
came  forward,  grasped  his  hand,  and  said  : — 

"  I  congratulate  you  upon  your  success.  You  have  done  a 
great  work.  Will  you  have  a  glass  of  beer  2" 

"  Thank  you,"  said  Stanley.  Upon  inquiry,  he  was  inform- 
ed that  he  was  conversing  with  Lieut.  Henn  of  the  Royal 
Xavy,  then  commanding  the  Expedition.  Lieutenant  Henn 
continued : — 

"  Has  Dr.  Livingstone  got  all  he  wants  2" 

"Yes." 

"  Does  he  want  anything  else  2" 

"No." 

"  You  are  sure  he  has  got  everything?" 

"  Well,  I  have  got  a  list  in  my  pocket  of  a  few  things  that 
he  desires  to  have ;  if  you  have  these  he  will  take  them." 

"  Oh,"  said  Lieut.  Henn,  "  I  don't  see  the  use  of  my  going." 

" To  tell  the  truth,"  replied  Stanley,  " I  don't  either;  but 
perhaps  you  have  got  your  own  orders,  and  I  don't  know 
what  they  are." 

"  This  is  a  Livingstone  Search  Expedition,  "and  if  he  is 
searched  for  and  relieved— why,  the  object  of  the  expedition 
is  ended.  I  know  what  I  will  do  ;"  I  will  go  back  to  Zanzi- 
bar and  resign ;  but  I  should  like  to  shoot  an  elephant." 


STANLEY'S    UETUKN    TO    BAGAMOYO. 


LIVINGSTONE'S  AUTOGRAPH  LETTER. 


549 


Mr.  Stanley  then  showed  to  Lieut.  Henn  a  letter  which 
Dr.  Livingstone  had  given  him  on  parting  with  him  at  Un- 
yanyembe,  of  which  the  following  is  a  fac-sinaile. 


On  the  7th  of  May,  Mr.  Stanley,  accompanied  by  all  the 


550  ARRIVAL  AT  ZANZIBAR. 

survivers  of  the  expedition,  went  over  to  Zanzibar.  "When 
the  dhow  neared  the  island  a  gun  was  fired,  and  the  American 
colors  were  soon  visible,  proudly  flying  from  the  gaff.  The 
beach  was  lined  with  people,  native  and  white,  who  testified 
their  delight  by  an  unceasing  discharge  of  small  arms.  The 
guns  in  the  Sultan's  batteries  fired  repeated  salutes,  and,  in 
fact,  the  enthusiasm  was  something  unparalleled.  There  was 
never  anything  seen  like  it  in  Zanzibar,  and  the  Americans 
in  particular  were  joyful  in  the  extreme. 

Mr.  Stanley  was  again  the  guest  of  the  American  Consul, 
and  all  the  American  residents  visited  him.  Though  suffering 
from  fever  on  his  arrival  he  soon  recovered,  and  there  was  a 
season  of  general  rejoicing.  The  Sultan  of  Zanzibar  gave  a 
fete  in  honor  of  Mr.  Stanley,  which  was  a  grand  affair.  The 
American  Consul  gave  a  dinner,  to  which  all  the  Americans 
were  invited,  as  well  as  the  members  of  the  English  Expedi- 
tion, including  Dr.  Livingstone's  son,  Mr.  W.  Oswald  Living- 
stone. 

Mr.  Stanley  immediately  set  to  work  organizing  the  new 
expedition,  and  selected  fifty  men,  including  six  ISTasik  boys 
and  many  of  his  own  guard.  These  men  were  armed,  paid 
and  equipped  by  the  English  Expedition,  and  left  Zanzibar 
May  28th,  for  Unyanyembe,  where  Dr.  Livingstone  was  to 
await  their  arrival. 

On  the  28th  of  May  1872,  Mr.  Stanley,  with  Dr.  Living- 
stone's son  and  other  members  of  the  English  Expedition, 
sailed  from  Zanzibar  for  Seychelles  in  the  screw  steamer  Star. 
His  faithful  ebony  boy  Kalulu,  accompanied  him. 


CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

THE    LIVINGSTONE    SEAECH    AND    EELIEF 
EXPEDITION. 


"Livingstone  Search  and  Relief  Expedition,"  left 
-L  England  under  the  direction  of  the  Geographical  Society, 
though  a  large  portion  of  the  necessary  funds  were  raised  by 
private  subscriptions.  It  comprised,  when  it  left  England, 
Lieutenants  Dawson  and  Ilenn,  of  the  Royal  Navy,  and  Mr. 
W.  Oswald  Livingstone. 

These  gentlemen  reached  Zanzibar,  by  steamer  Abydos,  on 
the  17th  of  March,  1872,  and  made  their  head-quarters,  as  all 
previous  English  East  African  Explorers  had  done,  at  the 
British  Consulate,  which  is  built  of  coral  on  the  northern 
edge  of  the  sand-flat  upon  which  the  town  is  located,  and 
overlooks  the  harbor. 

Lieutenant  Dawson  brought  a  letter  from  the  Society, 
inviting  Rev.  Charles  New,  an  African  Missionary  and  trav- 
eler of  ten  years  experience,  to  accompany  the  expedition. 
He  had  arrived  at  Zanzibar  two  days  previous  on  his  way  to 
England,  but  decided  to  join  the  expedition  as  interpreter 
and  third  in  command.  His  services  were  to  be  gratuitous, 
but  he  was  to  be  free  from  personal  expenses,  and  a  passage 
to  England  was  to  be  furnished  him. 

Before  leaving  England  Lieutenant  Dawson  had  been  put 
on  half-pay,  and  both  he  and  Lieutenant  Ilenn  received  an 
intimation  that  their  period  of  absence  would  not  be  allowed 
to  be  counted  as  "  sea  time." 

Sayid  Bergash,  Sultan  of  Zanzibar,  returned  to  his  domin- 

553 


554:  PRESENT  TO  THE  SULTAN— NASIK  BOYS. 

ions  on  the  29th  of  March,  from  a  visit  to  Mecca.  On  hear- 
ing of  the  arrival  of  the  expedition,  he  at  once  invited  its 
members  to  a  private  reception  and  durbar  at  his  palace.  On 
this  occasion  a  handsome  gift  from  the  Geographical  Society 
was  presented  to  his  Highness.  It  consisted  of  a  silver  salver 
and  coffee-pot  in  a  polished  oak  case,  lined  with  red  velvet, 
and  bearing  a  suitable  inscription. 

The  Sultan  seemed  much  pleased,  expressed  a  strong  inter- 
est in  Dr.  Livingstone,  and  said  he  would  do  all  he  could  to 
assist  his  visitors.  He  also  put  his  steam  yacht,  Darra  Salam, 
at  their  disposal.  The  Sultan  is  thirty -two  years  of  age,  and 
succeeded  his  brother  in  1870.  He  is  much  respected  both 
by  foreigners  and  natives.  The  Grand  Yizier,  Sayid  Suli- 
man,  takes  the  management  of  affairs  in  the  Sultan's  absence, 
and  is  his  counselor  on  all  state  questions,  (cut,  page  391.) 

Preparations  for  the  journey  were  at  once  made.  Goods 
were  purchased  and  packed,  and  a  head-man  and  guard 
engaged.  Six  of  the  guard  were  Nasik  boys,  originally 
slaves,  who  had  been  released  by  H.  M.  cruisers,  and  educated 
by  the  Mombas  Mission  at  their  school  near  Bombay.  Hav- 
ing volunteered  their  services  they  had  been  sent  to  Zanzibar 
in  February.  They  were  handy  and  willing,  averaging  about 
twenty  years  of  age,  apt  pupils,  and  a  credit  to  the  Mission 
which  had  rescued  them  from  their  ignorant  state,  educated 
them,  and  converted  them  to  Christianity,  They  had  been 
taught  trades,  and  could  speak  and  write  in  English.  They 
were  at  once  drilled  in  the  use  of  fire  arms  and  made  good 
soldiers,and  subsequently  composed  a  part  of  the  force  which 
was  sent  to  Dr.  Livingstone  at  Unyanyembe.  (cut,  page  561 ) 

The  following  is  an  interesting  account  of  the  collapse  of 
the  Expedition  as  given  by  Mr.  New : — 

"All  ready,  Lieutenant  Dawson,  Lieutenant  Henn  and 
myself  embarked  on  board  a  native  dhow,  with  the  material 
of  the  expedition,  for  Bagamoyo.  This  was  on  Saturday, 
the  27th  of  April.  It  was  late  in  the  afternoon,  and  the  wind 
had  died  away,  in  consequence  of  which  we  made  but  little 
progress,  and  were  obliged  to  drop  anchor  at  dusk  near  the 


READY  TO  START— NEWS  OF  STANLEY,  557 

coast  of  Zanzibar,  in  full  sight  of  the  town.  The  boat 
was  an  open  one,  and  rain  began  to  fall.  Our  condition  that 
night  beggars  description,  and  I  will  not  attempt  it. 

"  We  reached  Bagamoyo  on  the  following  day  at  evening. 
"We  were  received  by  Hindoos,  Banians  and  Baloch  with 
'  open  arms,'  and  were  conducted  to  our  quarters  with  the 
most  exuberant  protestations  of  respect,  good  will  and  assur- 
ance of  ready  help  of  every  sort.  Could  anything  be  more 
satisfactory  ?  Why,  we  had  already  half  discovered  Living- 
stone. What  could  it  be  to  travel  in  Africa,  where  the  peo- 
ple were  almost  ready  to  carry  us  about  on  their  very  shoul- 
ders? But  our  fate  was  approaching.  The  Livingstone 
Search  and  Relief  Expedition  was  to  receive  its  death  blow 
in  its  most  propitious  moments. 

"Before  we  had  been  many  minutes  in  Bagamoyo,  we 
were  told  that  two  men  had  arrived  there  two  days  before  with 
news  of  Stanley  and  Livingstone.  The  travelers  had  met ; 
Livingstone  was  in  Unyanyembe,  alive  and  well,  while  Stan- 
ley had  reached  Ugogo  on  his  way  to  the  coast,  and  might  be 
expected  in  Bagamoyo  in  two  or  three  days.  '  Who  are  the 
men  who  have  brought  this  news,  and  where  are  they  ? '  we 
inquired.  '  They  are  the  American's  servants,  and  we  will 
soon  bring  them  to  you,'  was  the  reply.  Accordingly  the 
men  were  brought  to  us.  They  were  questioned  with  as 
much  care  as  eagerness.  It  was  all  true.  Stanley  had  met 
Livingstone  at  Ujiji.  *  * 

"  Of  course,  we  were  all  more  or  less  excited,  but  Lieuten- 
ant Dawson  looked  unutterable  things.  He  instantly  told  us 
that  the  work  he  had  undertaken  to  do  had  already  been 
done  ;  that  nothing  remained  to  him  but  to  return  to  England ; 
the  expedition  so  far  as  he  was  concerned  was  at  an  end. 
He  said  he  had  not  come  to  East  Africa  to  explore,  but  to 
search  for  Dr.  Livingstone.  Dr.  Livingstone  had  been  found, 
and  his  work  was  done ;  he  should  certainly  give  up  the 
expedition.  Lieutenant  Henn  expressed  the  same  intention. 
My  own  first  thoughts  were  that  the  expedition  was  at  an 
end  J  but  upon  reconsideration  it  occurred  to  me  that,  though 


558  COLLAPSE  OF  THE  EXPEDITION. 

Dr.  Livingstone  had  been  found,  he  had  not  been  relieved, 
and  that  it  was  the  duty  of  some  one  to  carry  on  relief.  I 
resolved,  if  no  one  else  would  do  this,  to  do  it  myself. 

*  *  *  *  •   *  *  * 

"  On  the  following  morning,  Monday,  April  29th,  Lieutenant 
Ilenn  and  I  saw  Lieutenant  Dawson  off  to  Zanzibar.  On 
Wednesday  evening,  May  1st,  I  received  letters  from  Dr.  Kirk 
and  Lieutenant  Dawson,  offering  me  the  charge  of  the  Relief 
Expedition.  Dr.  Kirk  wrote  as  follows  : — 

"  «  ZANZIBAR,  April  30,  1872. 

DEAR  MR.  NEW — Mr.  Dawson  astonished  us  with  his 
news  yesterday,  which  upsets  all  previous  arrangements,  the 
notice  of  Dr.  Livingstone  being  confirmed  by  Arab  letters. 
Mr.  Dawson  now  determines  to  go  home,  and  I  thinks  acts 
well,  as  an  observer  could  only  be  looked  upon  as  a  rival  in 
the  field  Dr.  Livingstone  has  chosen  and  still  desires  to  fol- 
low. Mr.  Livingstone  goes  on  under  all  circumstances,  and 
will  take  to  his  father  the  stores.  Mr.  Henn,  I  dare  say,  has 
no  desire  to  take  Dawson's  place,  but  I  feel  less  sure  whether 
you  may  not  feel  that  your  own  object — that  of  making  a 
missionary  survey  of  a  new  field — may  not  still  commend 
itself  to  you,  and,  if  so,  you  might  go  on  in  charge  of  the 
Relief  Expedition,  the  Search  Expedition  having  ceased. 
The  relief,  would  in  my  opinion,  be  to  deliver  our  stores  to 
the  Doctor,  who,  being  then  joined  by  his  son,  would  act  as 
he  pleased,  and  you  too  be  free  to  return,  taking  stores  for  this 
purpose.  This  is  a  matter  for  you  seriously  to  think  over. 
That  young  Livingstone  goes  on  is  settled.  If  you  go  he 
will  be  happy  to  have  you  as  his  leader  in  charge. 
The  expedition  will  cease  on  reaching  Unyanyembe.  and  you 
might  then  come  back  with  some  or  all  of  the  Mombas  men. 
Think  over  all  this  and  let  me  know.  Ever  yours,  in  haste. 

JOHN  KIRK.'  " 

On  receiving  these  letters  from  Kirk  and  Dawson,  both 
suggesting  that  he  should  lead  the  expedition,  Mr.  New  deter- 
mined to  accept  the  charge ;  but  Lt.  Henn  had  changed  his 
mind,  and  he  now  expressed  his  resolution  to  assume  the 


THE  LEADERS  RESIGN.  559 

command  of  the  expedition,  insisting  on  his  right  to  do  so  as 
second  in  command.  So  Mr.  New  wrote  to  Dr.  Kirk  that 
Lt.  Henn  did  not  wish  to  give  up  command,  and  that  he 
(New)  did  not  wish  to  struggle  with  him  for  the  position ; 
but,  all  things  considered,  he  did  not  feel  like  taking  a  second 
place  in  such  an  expedition  as  the  Search  Expedition  had 
become.  Mr.  New  and  Lt.  Henn  then  went  over  to  Zanzibar, 
and  a  meeting  of  the  members  of  the  expedition  was  held. 
Of  this  meeting  Mr.  New  says : — 

"  Lt.  Dawson  said  his  mind  was  thoroughly  made  up,  and 
that  he  intended  to  retire  from  the  expedition.  He  then 
said,  '  I  now  feel  it  to  be  my  duty  to  offer  the  expedition  to 
each  member  of  it,  according  to  his  position  in  connection 
therewith,  and  I  therefore  first  appeal  to  Mr.  Henn.'  Mr. 
Ilenn  instantly  replied,  '  I  will  take  it.'  I  must  say  that 
these  tactics  greatly  amused  me,  because  they  were  so  totally 
unnecessary.  Mr.  Henn  having  accepted  the  command,  I 
was  appealed  to  as  to  what  course  I  would  take.  I  repeated 
what  I  had  said  in  my  note.  Still,  my  great  anxiety  to  be 
of  service  to  the  expedition  inclined  me  to  accept  the  humili- 
ating position  now  offered  me ;  and,  after  some  hesitation,  I 
gave  a  verbal  consent  to  take  it.  But  the  decision  was  pre- 
mature. My  knowledge  of  Mr.  Henn  compelled  me  to  the 
conclusion  that  I  could  not'act  in  concert  with  him.  On  the 
following  morning  I  sent  in  my  resignation  to  Mr.  Henn. 

*  *  *  •*  *  *  # 

"  On  Monday,  May  6,  Lt.  Henn  and  Mr.  Livingstone  left 
Zanzibar  once  more  for  Bagamoyo,  with  the  view  of  engag- 
ing porters,  and  leaving  for  the  interior  immediately.  At 
Bagamoyo,  on  the  very  day  of  their  arrival,  they  met  Mr. 
Stanley.  On  Tuesday,  May  7th,  Mr.  Stanley  reached  Zanzibar, 
accompanied  by  Lt.  Henn  and  Mr.  Livingstone.  I  met  these 
gentlemen  at  the  landing  stage.  Another  change  had  come 
over  the  spirit  of  Mr.  Henn's  dream.  He  said  he  had  now 
decided  to  give  up  the*  expedition,  and  inquired  as  to  what 
prospect  there  was  of  getting  away  from  Zanzibar  in  a  home- 
ward direction.  Mr.  Livingstone,  however,  announced  it  to 


560  EXPEDITION  ABANDONED. 

be  his  intention  to  go  on  alone.  Had  he  done  this,  however 
much  I  might  have  admired  his  courage,  I  could  not  have 
commended  his  prudence. 

"  In  my  opinion,  it  would  have  been  wrong  for  him.  to 
have  gone  alone  ;  his  youth,  his  unacclimatized  constitution, 
and  his  ignorance  of  the  languages  and  customs  of  the  people 
were  against  him,  and  to  have  attempted  such  a  task  under 
such  circumstances,  single-handed,  would  probably  have  led 
to  disaster  the  most  serious.  I  felt  this  so  strongly  that  I 
ventured  to  express  this  view  to  Dr.  Kirk.  At  the  same  time 
I  felt  that  the  expedition  ought  not  to  be  given  up,  and  I 
volunteered  even  then  to  take  charge  of  it.  Alone,  or  in 
connection  with  Mr.  Livingstone,  I  would  have  done  my  best 
to  push  it  to  a  successful  issue.  Dr.  Kirk,  however,  said  that 
such  was  the  state  of  things  then  that  he  could  do  nothing ; 
that  Mr.  Livingstone  was  quite  determined  to  go  on  alone, 
and  that  things  must  take  their  own  course. 

"  Two  or  three  days  after,  Mr.  Livingstone  went  to  Baga- 
moyo  once  more,  with  the  intention,  as  every  one  thought,  of 
proceeding  to  Unyanyembe.  But  in  a  few  days  more  he  was 
back  again  in  Zanzibar,  and  then  it  was  reported  that  he,  too, 
would  give  up  the  expedition.  Thus  the  collapse  of  what 
might  have  been  a  grand  expedition  was  complete.  In  the 
meantime  Mr.  Stanley  was  perfecting  his  own  great  achieve- 
ments by  organizing  a  native  caravan,  with  the  view  of  send- 
ing it  immediately  to  the  relief  of  Dr.  Livingstone.  By  the 
exercise  of  uncommon  energy  Mr.  Stanley  effected  this ;  and 
before  we  left  Zanzibar,  a  caravan  numbering  fifty-seven  men 
was  packed,  signed,  sealed,  addressed,  and  despatched,  like  so 
many  packets  of  useful  commodities,  to  the  service  and  succor 
of  Dr.  Livingstone,  Unyanyembe,  Unyamwezi,  or  the  Land 
of  the  Moon ;  and  I  sincerely  hope  they  may  not  fail  to  reach 
their  destination." 


CHAPTER  XXXIY. 

t 

DE.  LIVINGSTONE'S  LETTER  TO  MR.  BENNETT. 

WHEN  the  news  of  Mr.  Stanley's  success  in  discovering 
Dr.  Livingstone  first  reached  this  country,  there  were 
people  both  here  and  in  England  who  more  than  insinuated 
a  doubt  as  to  whether  the  newspaper  correspondent  had 
really  been  to  the  interior  of  Africa.  The  ample  evidence 
which  afterwards  came  to  hand  removed  any  genuine  doubts 
of  the  fact,  although  some  "  Doubting'  Thomas's "  still 
thought,  or  pretended  to  think,  that  the  Livingstone's 
letters  were  a  humbug. 

There  are  mean,  suspicious  and  jealous  natures  in  all  classes 
of  society,  and  if  reports  be  true  these  qualities  especially 
abound  in  the  scientific  and  artistic  world.  Some,  however, 
doubted  honestly,  and  frankly  apologized  for  the  manner  in 
which  they  received  the  first  news  from  the  lost  explorer. 

Mr.  Stanley  was  the  bearer  of  numerous  letters  from  Dr. 
Livingstone,  among  which  was  the  following  addressed  to 
Mr.  Bennett  :— 

TJjui,  ON  TANGANYIKA,  ) 
EAST  AFRICA,  November,  1871,  f 
JAMES  GORDON  BENNETT,  JR.,  ESQ.: — 
MY   DEAR    SIR — It   is   in   general   somewhat   difficult  to 
write  to  one  we  have  never  seen — it  feels  so  much  like  ad- 
dressing an  abstract  idea — but  the  presence  of  your  repre- 
sentative, Mr.  H.  M.  Stanley,   in  this  distant  region  takes 
away  the  strangeness  I  should  otherwise  have  felt,  and  in 
writing  to  thank  you  for  the  extreme  kindness  that  prompted 
you  to  send  him,  I  feel  quite  at  home. 

563 


564:  LIVINGSTONE  IN  DISTRESS  AT  UJIJL 

If  I  explain  the  forlorn  condition  in  which  he  found  me, 
you  will  easily  perceive  that  I  have  good  reason  to  use  very 
strong  expressions  of  gratitude.  I  came  to  Ujiji  off  a  tramp 
of  between  four  hundred  and  five  hundred  miles,  beneath  a 
blazing  vertical  sun,  having  been  baffled,  worried,  defeated 
and  forced  to  return,  when  almost  in  sight  of  the  end  of 
the  geographical  part  of  my  mission,  by  a  number  of  half- 
caste  Moslem  slaves  sent  to  me  from  Zanzibar,  instead  of 
men.  The  sore  heart,  made  still  sorer  by  the  woful  sights  I 
had  seen  of  man's  inhumanity  to  man,  reached  and  told  on 
the  bodily  frame  and  depressed  it  beyond  measure.  I 
thought  that  I  was  dying  on  my  feet.  It  is  not  too  much  to 
say  that  almost  every  step  of  the  weary,  sultry  way  was  in 
pain,  and  I  reached  Ujiji  a  mere  "  ruckle  "  of  bones. 

There  I  found  that  some  five  hundred  pounds  sterling 
worth  of  goods  which  I  had  ordered  from  Zanzibar,  had 
unaccountably  been  entrusted  to  a  drunken  half-caste  Moslem 
tailor,  who,  after  squandering  them  for  sixteen  months  on 
the  way  to  Ujiji,  finished  up  by  selling  off  all  that  remained 
for  slaves  and  ivory  for  himself.  He  had  "  divined  "  on  the 
Koran  and  found  that  I  was  dead.  He  had  also  written  to 
the  Governor  of  Unyaiiyembe  that  he  had  sent  slaves  after 
me  to  Manyema  who  returned  and  reported  my  decease, 
and  begged  permission  to  sell  off  the  few  goods  that  his 
drunken  appetite  had  spared. 

He,  however,  knew  perfectly  well,  from  men  who  had  seen 
me,  that  I  was  alive,  and  waiting  for  the  goods  and  men ; 
but  as  for  morality,  he  is  evidently  an  idiot,  and  there  being 
no  law  here  except  that  of  the  dagger  or  musket,  I  had  to  sit 
down  in  great  weakness,  destitute  of  everything  save  a  few 
barter  cloths  and  beads,  which  I  had  taken  the  precaution  to 
leave  here  in  case  of  extreme  need. 

The  near  prospect  of  beggary  among  Ujijians  made  me 
miserable. 

I  could  not  despair,  because  I  laughed  so  much  at  a  friend 
who,  on  reaching  the  mouth  of  the  Zambesi,  said  that  he  was 
tempted  to  despair  on  breaking  the  photograph  of  his  wife. 


CTANLET  COMES  TO  THE  RESCUE.  565 

"We  could  have  no  success  after  that.  Afterward,  the  idea  of 
despair  had  to  me  such  a  strong  smack  of  the  ludicrous  that 
it  was  out  of  the  question. 

Well,  when  I  had  got  to  about  the  lowest  verge,  vague 
rumors  of  an  English  visitor  reached  me.  I  thought  of 
myself  as  the  man  who  went  down  from  Jerusalem  to  Jeri- 
cho; but  neither  priest,  Levite  nor  Samaritan  could  possibly 
pass  my  way.  Yet  the  good  Samaritan  was  close  at  hand, 
and  one  of  my  people  rushed  up  at  the  top  of  his  speed,  and, 
in  great  excitement  gasped  out,  "  An  Englishman  coming ! 
I  see  him  !"  and  off  he  darted  to  meet  him. 

An  American  flag,  the  first  ever  seen  in  these  parts,  at  the 
head  of  a  caravan,  told  me  the  nationality  of  the  stranger. 

I  am  as  cold  and  non-demonstrative  as  we  islanders  are 
usually  reputed  to  be ;  but  your  kindness  made  my  frame 
thrill.  It  was,  indeed,  overwhelming,  and  I  said  in  my  soul, 
"  Let  the  richest  blessings  descend  from  the  Highest  on  you 
and  yours  !" 

The  news  Mr.  Stanley  had  to  tell  was  thrilling.  The  mighty 
political  changes  on  the  Continent ;  the  success  of  the 
Atlantic  cables ;  the  election  of  General  Grant,  and  many  oth- 
er topics  riveted  my  attention  for  days  together,  and  had  an 
immediate  and  beneficial  effect  on  my  health.  I  had  been 
without  news  from  home  for.  years  save  what  I  could  glean 
from  a  fdw  Saturday  Reviews  and  Punch  of  1868.  The 
appetite  revived,  and  in  a  week  I  began  to  feel  strong  again. 

Mr.  Stanley  brought  a  most  kind  and  encouraging  despatch 
from  Lord  Clarendon,  whose  loss  I  sincerely  deplore,  the  first 
I  have  received  from  the  Foreign  Office  since  1866,  and  infor^ 
mation  that  the  British  government  had  kindly  sent  a  thou- 
sand pounds  sterling  to  my  aid.  Up  to  his  arrival  I  was  not 
aware  of  any  pecuniary  aid.  I  came  unsalaried,  but  this  want 
is  now  happily  repaired,  and  I  am  anxious  that  you  and  all 
my  friends  should  know  that,  though  uncheered  by  letter,  I 
have  stuck  to  the  task  which  my  friend  Sir  Roderick  Murch- 
ison  set  me,  with  "  John  Bullish  "  tenacity,  believing  that  all: 
would  come  right  at  last. 
29 


566  THE  COUNTRY  OF  THE  CANNIBALS.      ' 

The  watershed  of  South  Central  Africa  is  over  seven  hun- 
dred miles  in  length.  The  fountains  thereon  are  almost 
innumerable — that  is,  it  would  take  a  man's  lifetime  to  count 
them.  From  the  watershed  they  converge  into  four  large 
rivers,  and  these  again  into  two  mighty  streams  in  the  great 
Nile  valley,  which  begins  in  ten  degrees  to  twelve  degrees 
south  latitude.  It  was  long  ere  light  dawned  on  the  ancient 
problem  and  gave  me  a  clear  idea  of  the  drainage.  I  had  to 
feel  my  way,  and  every  step  of  the  way,  and  was  generally 
groping  in  the  dark,  for  who  cared  where  the  rivers  ran? 
We  drank  our  fill  and  let  the  rest  run  by. 

The  Portuguese  who  visited  Cazembe  asked  for  slaves 
and  ivory,  and  heard  of  nothing  else.  I  asked  about  the 
waters,  questioned  and  cross-questioned,  until  I  was  almost 
afraid  of  being  set  down  as  afflicted  with  hydrocephalus. 

My  last  work,  in  which  I  have  been  greatly  hindered  from 
want  of  suitable  attendants,  was  following  the  central  line 
of  drainage  down  through  the  country  of  the  cannibals,  called 
Manyuema,  or,  shortly,  Manyema.  This  line  of  drainage 
has  four  large  lakes  in  it.  The  fourth  I  was  near  when 
obliged  to  turn.  It  is  from  one  to  three  miles  broad,  and 
never  can  be  reached  at  any  point  or  at  any  time  of  the 
year.  Two  western  drains,  the  Lupera,  or  Bartle  Frere's 
River  flow  into  it  at  Lake  Kamolondo.  Then  the  great  River 
Lomaine  flows  through  Lake  Lincoln  into  it,  too,  and  seems 
to  form  the  western  arm  of  the  Nile,  on  which  Petherick 
traded. 

Now,  I  knew  about  six  hundred  miles  of  the  watershed, 
and  unfortunately  the  seventh  hundred  is  the  most  interest- 
ing of  the  whole ;  for  in  it,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  four  fount- 
ains arise  from  an  earthen  mound,  and  the  last  of  the  four 
becomes,  at  no  great  distance  off',  a  large  river. 

Two  of  these  run  north  to  Egypt,  Lupera  and  Louraine, 
and  two  run  south  into  inner  Ethiopia,  as  the  Liambai,  or 
upper  Zambesi,  and  the  Kafneare. 

Are  not  these  the  sources  of  the  Nile  mentioned  by  the 
Secretary  of  Minerva,  in  the  city  of  Sais,  to  Herodotus  ? 


THE  FOUR  MYSTERIOUS  FOUNTAINS.  567 

I  have  heard  of  them  so  often,  and  at  great  distances  off, 
that  I  cannot  doubt  their  existence,  and  in  spite  of  the  sore 
longing  for  home  that  seizes  me  every  time  I  think  of  my 
family,  I  wish  to  finish  up  by  their  re-discovery. 

Five  hundred  pounds  sterling  worth  of  goods  have  again 
unaccountably  been  entrusted  to  slaves,  and  have  been  over  a 
year  on  the  way,  instead  of  four  months.  I  must  go  where 
they  lie  at  your  expense,  ere  I  can  put  the  natural  comple- 
tion to  my  work. 

And  if  my  disclosures  regarding  the  terrible  Ujijian  slavery 
should  lead  to  the  suppression  of  the  East  Coast  slave  trade, 
I  shall  regard  that  as  a  greater  matter  by  far  than  the  discov- 
ery of  all  the  Nile  sources  together.  Now  that  you  have 
done  with  domestic  slavery  forever,  lend  us  your  powerful 
aid  toward  this  great  object.  This  fine  country  is  blighted, 
as  with  a  curse  from  above,  in  order  that  the  slavery  privi- 
leges of  the  petty  Sultan  of  Zanzibar  may  not  be  infringed, 
and  the  rights  of  the  Crown  of  Portugal,  which  are  mythical, 
should  be  kept  in  abeyance  till  some  future  time  when  Africa 
will  become  another  India  to  Portuguese  slave  traders. 

I  conclude  by  again  thanking  you  most  cordially  for  your 

great  generosity,  and  am, 

Gratefully  yours, 

DAVID  LFVINGSTOKE. 

This  letter  when  first  published  in  the  New  York  Herald, 
drew  many  comments  like  the  following  from  the  press : — 

"  Dr.  Livingstone  evidently  intends  to  finish  up  the  work 
he  has  undertaken,  and  accordingly  he  waves  a  farewell  to 
Stanley,  and  the  civilized  world  generally,  bows  his  thanks 
to  all,  and  singular,  turns  his  back,  and  plunges  again  into 
the  dense  African  jungles,  to  hunt  for  a  seventh-hundred  of 
the  long  line  of  watershed,  that  he  is  convinced  holds  the 
secret  of  the  Nile.  His  letter  is  a  curiosity  in  more  ways 
than  one — and  it  has  the  further  advantage  of  restoring  men's 
faith  in  human  nature,  for  shall  we  say  that  very  many  per- 
sons have  been  inclined  to  jeer  at  the  HERALD,  and  to  poke 
fun  at  Stanley  ?  Let  all  the  carpers  hide  their  diminished 
heads.  There  is  but  one  HERALD,  and  Stanley  is  its  profit. 


CHAPTER  XXXV. 
LIVINGSTONE'S  SECOND  LETTER  TO  BENNETT. 

DR.  LIVINGSTONE  also  wrote  and,  sent  Mr.  Stanley, 
a  second  letter  to  Mr.  Bennett.  The  first  one  was 
intended,  doubtless,  as  an  acknowledgment  of  Mr.  Bennett's 
kindness  and  enterprise.  In  the  second  one,  dated  at  Ujiji, 
November,  1871,  which  is  given  below,  he  relates  some  of 
his  experiences  and  adventures,  and  speaks  forcibly  of  the 
evils  of  the  slave  trade. 
JAMES  GORDON  BENNETT,  JK.,  ESQ.  : — 

MY  DEAK  SIR — I  wish  to  say  a  little  about  the  slave  trade  in 
Eastern  Africa.  It  is  not  a  very  inviting  subject,  and  to  some 
I  may  appear  very  much  akin  to  the  old  lady  who  relished 
her  paper  for  neither  births,  deaths,  nor  marriages,  but  for 
good,  racy,  bloody  murder.  I  am,  however,  far  from  fond  of 
the  horrible.  I  often  wish  I  could  forget  scenes  I  have  seen, 
and  will  certainly  never  try  to  inflict  on  others  the  sorrow 
which  being  witness  of  man's  inhumanity  to  man  has  often 
entailed  on  myself. 

Some  of  your  readers  know  that  about  five  years  ago  I 
undertook,  at  the  instigation  of  my  very  dear  old  friend,  Sir 
Roderick  Murchison,  the  task  of  examining  the  watershed  of 
South  Central  Africa.  The  work  had  a  charm  for  my  mind 
because  the  dividing  line  between  the  North  and  South  was 
unknown,  and  a  fit  object  for  exploration.  Having  other 
work  on  hand  I  at  first  recommended  another  for  the  task, 
but  on  his  declining  to  go  without  a  handsome  salary  and 
something  to  fall  back  upon  afterwards,  I  agreed  to  go  myself, 

568 


HARDSHIPS  OF  THE  EXPLORER.  569 

and  was  encouraged  by  Sir  Roderick  Murchison,  saying  in  a 
warm,  jovial  manner,  u  You  will  be  the  real  discoverer  of  the 
sources  of  the  Nile."  I  thought  that  two  years  would  be 
sufficient  to  go  from  the  coast  inland  across  the  head  of  Lake 
ISTyassa  to  the  watershed,  wherever  that  might  be,  and  after 
examination  try  to  begin  a  benevolent  mission  with  some 
tribe  on  the  slope  back  to  the  coast.  Had  I  known  all  the 
time,  toil,  hunger,  hardship  and  weary  hours  involved  in  that 
precious  water  parting,  I  might  have  preferred  having  my 
head  shaved  and  a  blister  put  on  it,  to  grappling  with  my  good 
old  friend's  task  ;  but  having  taken  up  the  burden  I  could  not 
bear  to  be  beaten  by  it. 

I  shall  tell  you  a  little  about  the  progress  made  by  and  by. 

At  present  let  me  give  a  glimpse  of  the  slave  trade,  to 
which  the  search  and  discovery  of  most  of  the  Nile  fountains 
have  brought  me  face  to  face.  The  whole  traffic,  whether  by 
land  or  ocean,  is  a  gross  outrage  on  the  common  law  of  man- 
kind. It  is  carried  on  from  age  to  age,  and,  in  addition  to 
the  untold  evils  it  inflicts,  presents  almost  insurmountable 
obstacles  to  intercourse  between  different  portions  of  the 
human  family.  This  open  sore  in  the  world  is  partly  owing 
to  human  cupidity,  partly  to  the  ignorance  of  the  more  civil- 
ized of  mankind  of  the  blight  which  lights  chiefly  on  more 
degraded  piracy  on  the  high  seas.  It  was  once  as  common 
as  slave  trading  is  now,  but  as  it  became  thoroughly  known 
the  whole  civilized  world  rose  against  it. 

In  now  trying  to  make  Eastern  African  slave  trade  better 
known  to  Americans,  I  indulge  the  hope  I  am  aiding  on, 
though  in  a  small  degree,  the  good  time  coming  yet,  when 
slavery  as  well  as  piracy  will  be  chased  from  the  world. 
Many  have  but  a  faint  idea  of  the  evils  that  trading  in  slaves 
inflicts  on  the  victims  and  authors  of  its  atrocities.  Most  peo- 
ple imagine  that  negroes,  after  being  brutalized  by  a  long 
course  of  servitude,  with  but  few  of  the  ameliorating  influences 
that  elevate  the  more  favored  races,  are  fair  average  specimens 
of  the  African  man.  Our  ideas  are  derived  from  slaves  of 
the  west  coast,  who  have  for  ages  been  subject  to  domestic 


570  A  GLIMPSE  AT  THE  SLAVE  TRADE. 

bondage,  and  all  the  depressing  agencies  of  a  most  unhealthy 
climate.  These  have  told  most  injuriously  on  their  physical 
frames,  while  fraud  and  the  rum  trade  have  ruined  their  moral 
natures  so  as  not  to  discriminate  the  difference  of  the  mon- 
strous injustice. 

The  main  body  of  the  population  is  living  free  in  the  inte- 
rior, under  their  own  chiefs  and  laws,  cultivating  their  own 
farms,  catching  fish  in  their  own  rivers,  or  fighting  bravely 
with  the  grand  old  denizens  of  the  forests,  which,  in  more 
recent  continents,  can  only  be  reached  in  rocky  strata  or  under 
perennial  ice.  Winwood  Reade  hit  the  truth  when  he  said 
the  ancient  Egyptian,  with  his  large,  round,  black  eyes,  full 
luscious  lips,  and  somewhat  depressed  nose,  is  far  nearer  the 
typical  negro  than  the  west  coast  African,  who  has  been 
debased  by  the  unhealthy  land  he  lives  in.  The  slaves  gen- 
erally, and  especially  those  on  the  east  coast  at  Zanzibar  and 
elsewhere,  are  extremely  ugly.  I  have  no  prejudice  against 
their  color ;  indeed,  any  one  who  lives  long  among  them  for- 
gets they  are  black  and  feels  they  are  just  fellow  men ;  but 
the  low,  retreating  forehead,  prognathous  jaws,  lark  heels  and 
other  physical  peculiarities  common  among  slaves  and  West 
African  negroes,  always  awaken  some  feelings  of  aversion  akin 
to  those  with  which  we  view  specimens  of  the  Bill  Sykes  and 
"  Bruiser "  class  in  England.  I  would  not  utter  a  syllable 
calculated  to  press  down  either  class  more  deeply  in  the  mire 
in  which  it  is  already  sunk,  but  I  wish  to  point  out  that  these 
are  not  typical  Africans  any  more  than  typical  Englishmen, 
and  that  the  natives  on  nearly  all  the  high  lands  of  the  inte- 
rior Continent  are,  as  a  rule,  fair  average  specimens  of 
humanity. 

I  happened  to  be  present  when  all  the  head  men  of  the 
great  Chief  Msama — who  lives  west  of  the  south  end  of  Tan- 
ganyika— had  come  together  to  make  peace  with  certain  Arabs 
who  had  burned  their  chief  town,  and  I  am  certain  one  could 
not  see  more  finely  formed,  intellectual  heads  in  any  assembly 
in  London  or  Paris,  and  the  faces  and  forms  corresponded 
with  the  finely  shaped  heads.  Msama  himself  had  been  a 


LIFE  BY  THE  LAKfi. SHORE. 


THE  QUEEN  OF  CAZEMBE— AFRICAN  BEAUTIES.      573 

sort  of  Napoleon  for  fighting  and  conquering  in  his  younger 
days. 

He  was  exactly  like  the  ancient  Assyrians  sculptured  on 
the  Nineveh  marbles,  as  Nimrod  and  others,  and  he  showed 
himself  to  be  one  of  ourselves  by  habitually  indulging  in 
copious  potations  of  beer,  called  pombe,  and  had  become  what 
Nathaniel  Hawthorne  called  "  bulbous  below  the  ribs."  I  do 
not  know  where  the  phrase  "  bloated  aristocracy  "  arose.  It 
must  be  American,  for  I  have  had  glimpses  of  a  good  many 
English  noblemen,  and  Msama  was  the  only  specimen  of  a 
"  bloated  aristocrat "  on  whom  I  ever  set  eyes. 

Many  of  the  women  are  very  pretty,  and,  like  alt  ladies, 
would  have  been  much  prettier  if  they  had  only  let  them- 
selves alone.  Fortunately  the  dears  could  not  change  charm- 
ing black  eyes,  beautiful  foreheads,  nicely  rounded  limbs,  well 
shaped  forms  and  small  hands  and  feet,  but  must  adorn  them- 
selves, and  this  they  do — "  oh,  the  hussies  !" — by  filing  splen- 
did teeth  to  points  like  cats'  teeth.  It  was  distressing,  for  it 
made  their  smile — which  had  so  much  power  over  us  he 
donkeys — like  that  of  crocodile  ornaments,  scarce.  What 
would  our  ladies  do  if  they  had  none,  but  pout  and  lecture  us 
on  woman's  rights.  But  these  specimens  of  the  fair  sex  make 
shift  by  adorning  fine  warm  brown  skins,  tattooing  various 
pretty  devices  without  colors,  that,  besides  purposes  of  beauty, 
serve  the  heralding  uses  of  our  Highland  tartans.  They  are 
not  black,  but  of  light,  warm  brown  color,  and  so  very  sister- 
ish,  if  I  may  use  the  word,  like  a  new  coinage,  it  feels  an 
injury  done  one's  self  to  see  a  bit  of  grass  stuck  through  the 
cartilage  of  the  nose  so  as  to  bulge  out  the  alee  nasi,  or  wing 
of  the  nose  of  the  anatomists. 

Cazembe's  Queen,  Moaria  Nyombe  by  name,  would  be 
esteemed  a  real  beauty  either  in  London,  Paris,  or  New  York, 
and  yet  she  had  a  small  hole  through  the  cartilage,  near  the 
tip  of  her  fine,  slightly  aquiline  nose.  But  she  had  only  filed 
one  side  of  two  of  the  front  of  her  superb  snow-white  teeth, 
and  then,  what  a  laugh  she  had  !  Let  those  who  wish  to  know 
go  see  her.  She  was  carried  to  her  farm  in  a  pony  phaeton, 


574  A  TRAGEDY  AXD  ITS  CONSEQUENCES. 

which  is  a  sort  of  throne,  fastened  in  two  very  long  poles, 
and  carried  by  twelve  stalwart  citizens. 

If  they  take  the  Punch  motto  of  Cazembe — "  Niggers  don't 
require  to  be  shot  here  "  as  their  own,  they  may  show  them- 
selves to  be  men  ;  but  whether  they  do  or  not,  Cazembe  will 
show  himself  a  man  of  sterling  good  sense. 

Now,  these  people,  so  like  ourselves  internally,  have  brave, 
genuine  human  souls.  Rua,  large  sections  of  country  north- 
west of  Cazembe,  but  still  in  the  same  inland  region,  is  peo- 
pled with  men  very  like  those  of  Msama  and  Cazembe.  An 
Arab,  Seyd  Ben  Habib,  was  sent  to  trade  in  Rua  two  years 
ago,  and,  as  Arabs  usually  do  where  natives  have  no  guns, 
Seyd  Ben  Habib's  elder  brother  carried  matters  with  a  high 
hand.  The  Rua  men  observed  the  elder  brother  slept  in  a 
white  tent,  and,  pitching  spears  into  it  by  night,  killed  him. 
As  Moslems  never  forgive  blood,  the  younger  brother  forth- 
with "  ran  a  muck  "  on  all  indiscriminately  in  a  large  dis- 
trict. 

Let  it  not  be  supposed  any  of  these  people  are,  like  Amer- 
ican Indians,  insatiable,  blood-thirsty  savages,  who  will  not 
be  reclaimed  or  entertain  terms  of  lasting  friendship  with 
fair-dealing  strangers.  Had  the  actual  murderers  been 
demanded,  and  a  little  time  granted,  I  feel  morally  certain, 
from  many  other  instances  among  tribes  who,  like  the  Ba 
Rua,  have  not  been  spoiled  by  Arab  traders,  they  would  all 
have  been  given  up. 

The  chiefs  of  the  country  would,  first  of  all,  have  specified 
the  crime  of  which  the  elder  brother  was  guilty,  and  who  had 
been  led  to  avenge  it.  It  is  very  likely  they  would  have 
stipulated  no  other  should  be  punished  but  the  actual  perpe- 
trator, the  domestic  slave  acting  under  his  orders  being  con- 
sidered free  of  blame.  / 

I  know  nothing  distinguishes  the  uncontaminated  African 
from  other  degraded  peoples  more  than  their  entire  reasona- 
bleness and  good  sense.  It  is  different  after  they  have  had 
wives,  children,  and  relatives  kidnapped,  but  that  is  more 
than  human  nature,  civilized  or  savage,  can  bear.  In  the 


BROKEX-HEAIITED  CAPTIVES.  575 

chase  in  question  indiscriminate  slaughter,  capture,  and  plun- 
der took  place.  A  very  large  number  of  very  fine  young 
men  were  captured,  and  secured  in  chains  and  wooden  yokes. 

I  came  near  the  party  of  Seyd  Ben  Habib,  close  to  a  point 
where  a  huge  rent  in  the  Mountain  of  Rua  allows  the  escape 
of  the  great  river  Lualaba  out  of  Lake  Moera,  and  here  I  had 
for  the  first  time  an  opportunity  of  observing  the  difference 
between  slaves  and  freemen  made  captive.  When  fairly 
across  the  Lualaba,  Seyd  Ben  Habib  thought  his  captives  safe, 
and  got  rid  of  the  trouble  of  attending  to  and  watching  the 
chained  gangs  by  taking  off  both  chains  and  yokes.  All 
declared  joy  and  a  perfect  willingness  to  follow  Seyd  to  the 
end  of  the  world  or  elsewhere,  but  next  morning  twenty-two 
made  clear  of  two  mountains. 

Many  more,  seeing  the  broad  Lualaba  roll  between  them 
and  the  homes  of  their  infancy,  lost  all  heart,  and  in  three 
days  eight  of  them  died.  They  had  no  complaint  but  pain 
in  the  heart,  and  they  pointed  out  its  seat  correctly,  though 
many  believe  the  heart  situated  underneath  the  top  of  the 
sternum,  or  breast  bone.  This  to  me  was  the  most  startling 
death  I  ever  saw.  They  evidently  died  of  broken  hearted- 
ness,  and  the  Arabs  wondered,  seeing  they  had  plenty  to 
eat. 

I  saw  others  perish,  particularly  a  very  fine  boy  ten  or 
twelve  years  of  age.  When  asked  where  he  felt  ill,  he  put 
his  hand  correctly  and  exactly  over  the  heart.  He  was  kindly 
carried,  and,  as  he  breathed  out  his  soul,  was  laid  gently  on 
the  side  of  the  path.  The  captors  were  not  unusually  cruel. 
They  were  callous.  Slaving  hardened  their  hearts. 

When  Seyd,  an  old  friend  of  mine,  crossed  Lualaba,  he 
heard  I  was  in  the  village,  where  a  company  of  slave  traders 
were  furiously  assaulted  for  three  days  by  justly  incensed 
Bobernba.  I  would  not  fight  nor  allow  my  people  to  fire  if 
I  saw  them,  because  Bobemba  had  been  especially  kind  to 
me.  Seyd  sent  a  party  of  his  own  people  to  invite  me  to 
leave  the  village  and  come  to  him.  He  showed  himself  the 
opposite  of  hard-hearted ;  but  slavery  hardens  within,  petrifies 


5T6  LAUGHTER  TELLING  NOT  OF  MIRTH. 

the  feelings,  is  bad  for  the  victims  and  ill  for  the  victimizers. 
Once,  it  is  said,  a  party  of  twelve,  who  had  been  slaves  in 
their  own  country — Cunda  or  Conda,  of  which  Cazernbe  is 
chief  or  general — were  loaded  with  krge,  heavy  yokes,  which 
were  forked  trees,  about  three  inches  in  diameter,  and  seven 
or  eight  feet  long,  the  neck  inserted  in  the  fork,  and  an  iron 
bar  driven  across  one  end  of  the  fork  to  the  other,  and  riveted 
to  the  other  end,  tied  at  night  to  the  tree  or  ceiling  of  the 
hut,  and  the  neck  being  firm  in  the  fork,  and  the  slave  held 
off  from  unloosing  it,  was  excessively  troublesome  to  the 
wearer,  and,  when  marching,  two  yokes  were  tied  together  by 
tree  ends,  and  loads  put  on  the  slaves'  heads  beside. 

A  woman,  having  an  additional  yoke  and  load,  and  a  child 
on  her  back,  said  to  me  on  passing,  "  They  are  killing  me.  If 
they  would  take  off  the  yoke  I  could  manage  the  load  and 
child ;  but  I  shall  die  with  three  loads."  The  one  who  spoke 
this  did  die ;  poor  little  girl !  Her  child  perished  from  star- 
vation. 

I  interceded  some,  but  when  unyoked,  off  they  bounded 
into  the  long  grass,  and  I  was  greatly  blamed  for  not  caring 
in  presence  of  the  owners  of  the  property. 

After  the  day's  march,  under  a  broiling,  vertical  sun,  with 
yokes  and  heavy  loads,  the  strongest  were  exhausted.  The 
party  of  twelve,  above  mentioned,  were  sitting  down  singing 
and  laughing.  "  Hallo,"  said  I,  "  these  fellows  take  to  it 
kindly.  This  must  be  the  class  for  whom  philosophers  say 
slavery  is  the  natural  state ;"  and  I  went  and  asked  the  cause 
of  their  mirth. 

I  had  asked  aid  of  their  owner  as  to  the  meaning  of  the 
word  "  Kukha,"  which  usually  means  fly  or  leap.  They  were 
using  it  to  express  the  idea  of  haunting,  as  a  ghost,  inflicting 
disease  or  death,  and  the  song  was  : — "  Yes,  me  going  away 
to  Manga,  abroad,  or  white  man's  land,  with  yoke  on  our 
necks ;  but  we  shall  have  no  yokes  in  death,  and  shall  return 
and  haunt  and  kill  you."  Chorus  then  struck  in,  which  was 
the  name  of  the  man  who  had  sold  each  of  them,  and  then 
followed  the  general  laugh,  in  which  at  first  I  saw  no  bitter- 


THE  MANYEMA  MAN-EATERS.  577 

ness.  Tarembee,  an  old  man,  at  least  one  hundred  and  four 
years,  being  one  of  the  sellers,  in  accordance  with  African 
belief,  they  had  no  doubt  of  being  soon  able,  by  ghost  power, 
to  kill  even  him. 

Their  refrain  was  as  if : — "  Oh  1  oh !  oh  !  bird  of  freedom, 
you  sold  me !" 

"  Oh  1  oh !  oh !  I  shall  haunt  you  1  Oh  !  oh  !  oli !"  Laugh- 
ter told  not  of  mirth,  but  of  tears,  such  as  were  oppressed, 
and  they  had  no  comforter.  He  that  is  higher  than  the  high- 
est regardeth. 

About  northeast  of  Rua  we  have  a  very  large  country  called 
Manyuema,  but  by  Arabs  shortened  into  Manyema.  It  is 
but  recently  known.  The  reputation  which  the  Manyemas 
enjoyed,  of  being  cannibals,  prevented  half-caste  Arab  traders 
from  venturing  among  them.  The  circumstantial  details  of 
practices  as  man-eaters  given  by  neighboring  tribes,  were  con- 
firmed by  two  Arabs  who,  two  years  ago,  went  as  far  as  Barn- 
barre,  and  secured  the  protection  and  friendship  of  the 
Moerekues,  Lord  of  Light  Grey  Parrott,  with  Scarlet  Tail, 
who  was  a  very  superior  man.  The  minute  details  of  canni- 
bal orgies  given  by  the  Arabs'  attendants,  erred  by  the  sheer 
excess  of  the  shocking  details. 

Had  I  believed  a  tenth  part  of  what  I  was  told,  I  might 
never  have  ventured  an  inch  in  Manyema ;  but  fortunately 
my  mother  never  frightened  me  in  infancy  with  "  bogie  "  and 
stuff  of  that  sort,  and  I  am  not  liable  to  fits  of  bogiephobia, 
in  which  disease  the  poor  patient  believes  everything  awful, 
if  only  it  is  attributed  to  the  owner  of  a  black  skin.  I  have 
heard  that  the  complaint  was  epidemic  lately  in  Jamaica,  and 
the  planter's  mothers  have  much  to  answer  for. 

I  hope  that  the  disease  may  never  spread  in  the  United 
States.  The  people  there  are  believed  to  be  inoculated  with 
common  sense. 

But  why  go  among  the  cannibals  at  all  ?  "Was  it  not  like 
joining  the  Alpine  Club,  in  order  to  be  lauded  if  you  don't 
break  your  neck  where  your  neck  ought  to  be  broken  ? 

This  makes  me  turn  back  to  the  watershed,  as  I  promised. 


578  THE  WATERSHED— UNKNOWN  LAKE. 

It  is  a  broad  belt  of  tree-covered  upland,  some  seven  hundred 
miles  in  length  from  west  to  east.  The  general  altitude  is 
between  four  thousand  and  five  thousand  feet  above  the  sea, 
and  mountains  stand  on  it  at  various  points  which  are  between 
six  thousand  and  seven  thousand  feet  above  the  ocean  level. 
On  this  watershed,  springs  arise  which  are  well  nigh  innumer- 
able ;  that  is,  it  would  take  half  a  man's  life  to  count  them. 
These  springs  join  each  other  and  form  brooks,  which  again 
converge  and  become  rivers,  or  say  streams  of  twenty,  forty, 
or  eighty  yards,  that  never  dry.  All  flow  towards  the  centre 
of  an  immense  valley,  which  I  believe  to  be  the  Valley  of  the 
Nile.  In  this  trough  we  have  at  first  three  large  rivers ;  then 
all  unite  into  one  enormous  lacustrine  river,  the  central  line 
of  drainage,  which  I  name  Webb's  Lualaba.  In  this  great 
valley  there  are  five  great  lakes.  One  near  the  upper  end  is 
called  Lake  Bemba,  or,  more  properly,  Bangweolo,  but  it  is 
not  a  source  of  the  Nile,  for  no  large  river  begins  in  a  lake. 
It  is  supplied  by  a  river  called  Chambezi,  and  several  others 
which  may  be  considered  sources,  and  out  of  it  flows  the 
larger  river,  Luapula,  which  enters  Lake  Moera,  and  comes 
out  as  the  great  lake  river,  Lualaba,  to  form  Lake  Komolondo. 
West  of  Komolondo,  but  still  in  the  great  valley,  lies  Lake 
Lincoln,  which  I  name  as  my  tribute  of  love  to  the  great  and 
good  man  America  enjoyed  for  some  time  and  lost.  One  of 
the  three  great  rivers  I  mentioned,  Bartle  Frere's  or  Lufira, 
falls  into  Komolondo,  and  Lake  Lincoln  becomes  a  lacustrine 
river,  and  it  too  joins  the  central  line  of  drainage,  but  lower 
down,  and  all  these  united  form  the  fifth  lake,  which  the 
slaves,  sent  to  me  instead  of  men,  forced  me,  to  my  great 
grief,  to  leave  as  the  Unknown  Lake.  By  my  reckoning,  the 
chronometers  being  all  dead,  it  is  five  degrees  of  longitude 
west  of  Speke's  position  at  Ujiji.  This  makes  it  probable 
that  the  great  lacustrine  river  in  the  valley  is  the  western 
branch  of  Petherick's  Nile,  the  Bahar  Ghazal,  and  not  the 
eastern  branch,  which  Speke,  Grant,  and  Baker  believed  to 
be  the  river  of  Egypt.  If  correct,  this  would  make  it  the 
Nile,  only,  after  all,  the  Bahar  Ghazal  enters  the  eastern  arm. 


DOUBTS  AND  PERPLEXITIES.  579 

But  though  I  found  a  watershed  between  ten  degrees  and 
twelve  degrees  south — that  is  a  long  way  further  up  the  val- 
ley than  any  one  had  dreamed — and  saw  the  streams  of  some 
six  hundred  miles  of  it  converging  into  the  centre  of  the  great 
valley,  no  one  knew  where  it  went  after  that  departure  of  Lake 
Moera.  Some  conjectured  that  it  went  into  Tanganyika ;  but 
I  saw  that  to  do  so  it  must  run  up  hill.  Others  imagined 
that  it  might  flow  into  the  Atlantic.  It  was  to  find  out  where 
it  actually  did  go  that  took  me  into  Manyema. 

I  could  get  no  information  from  traders  outside ;  and  no 
light  could  be  obtained  from  the  Manyema  within.  They 
never  travel,  and  it  was  so  of  old.  They  consist  of  petty 
headmanships,  and  each  hugs  his  grievance  from  some  old 
feud,  and  is  worse  than  our  old  Highland  ancestors.  Every 
head  man  of  a  hamlet  would  like  to  see  every  other  ruling 
blockhead  slain ;  but  all  were  kind  to  strangers,  and,  though 
terrible  fellows  among  themselves,  with  their  large  spears  and 
huge  wooden  shields,  they  were  never  known  to  injure  for- 
eigners till  slaves  tried  the  effects  of  gun  shots  upon  them, 
and  captured  their  women  and  children. 

As  I  could  get  no  geographical  information  from  them,  I 
had  to  feel  my  way  and  grope  in  the  interminable  forests  and 
prairies,  and  three  times  took  the  wrong  direction,  going 
northerly,  not  knowing  that  the  great  river  makes  immense 
sweeps  to  the  west  and  southwest.  I  felt  as  if  I  were  running 
my  head  against  a  stone  wall.  It  might,  after  all,  turn  out 
to  be  the  Congo,  and  who  would  risk  being  eaten  and  con- 
verted into  black  man  for  it  ? 

I  had  serious  doubts,  but  I  stuck  to  it  like  a  Briton,  and  at 
last  found  that  the  mighty  river  left  its  washing  and  flowed 
right  away  to  the  north,  the  two  great  western  drains,  the 
Lufira  and  Lomaine,  running  northeast  before  joining  the 
central  line  or  main.  Webb's  Lualaba  told  that  the  western 
side  of  the  great  valley  was  high  like  the  eastern,  and  as  this 
main  is  reported  to  go  into  large,  reedy  lakes,  it  can  scarcely 
be  aught  else  than  the  western  arm  of  the  Nile.  But  besides 
all  this,  in  which  it  is  quite  possible  I  may  be  mistaken,  we 


580  THE  TREACHEROUS  BANIANS. 

have  two  fountains  on,  probably,  the  seventh  hundred  miles 
of  the  watershed,  and  giving  rise  to  the  two  rivers,  the  Loam- 
bai,  or  the  Upper  Zambesi,  and  the  Kafne,  which  flow  into 
inner  Ethiopia ;  and  two  fountains  are  reported  to  rise  in  the 
same  quarter,  and,  forming  Lufira  and  Lomaine,  flow,  as  we 
have  seen,  to  the  north.  These,  from  full-grown,  gushing 
fountains,  rising  so  near  each  other,  and  giving  origin  to  four 
large  rivers,  answer  in  a  certain  degree  to  the  description 
given  of  the  unfathomable  fountains  of  the  Nile,  by  the  Sec- 
retary of  Minerva,  in  the  city  of  Sais,  in  Egypt,  to  the  father 
of  all  travelers,  Herodotus ;  but  I  have  to  confess  that  it  is  a 
little  presumptuous  in  me  to  put  this  forward  in  Central 
Africa,  and  without  a  single  book  of  reference,  on  the  dim 
recollection  of  reading  the  ancient  historian  in  boyhood. 

The  waters  were  said  to  well  up  from  an  unfathomable 
depth,  and  then  part ;  half  north  to  Egypt,  and  half  south  to 
inner  Ethiopia.  Now,  I  have  heard  of  the  fountains  afore- 
mentioned so  often  that  I  cannot  doubt  their  existence,  and  I 
•wish  to  clear  up  the  point  in  my  concluding  trip. 

I  am  not  to  be  considered  as  speaking  without  hesitation  ; 
but  prepared,  if  I  see  reason,  to  confess  myself  wrong.  No 
one  would  like  to  be  considered  a  disciple  of  the  testy  old 
•would-be  geographer  who  wrote  "  Inner  Africa  Laid  Open," 
and  swore  to  his  fancies  until  he  became  blue  in  the  face. 

The  work  wrould  all  have  been  finished  long  ago,  had  the 
matter  of  supplies  of  men  and  goods  not  been  entrusted  by 
mistake  to  Banians  and  their  slaves,  whose  efforts  were  all 
faithfully  directed  towards  securing  my  failure.  These  Ban- 
ians are  protected  English  subjects,  and  by  their  money,  their 
muskets,  and  their  ammunition,  the  East  African  Moslem 
slave  trade  is  mainly  carried  on.  The  cunning  East  Indians 
secure  most  of  the  profits  of  the  slave  trade,  and  adroitly  let 
odium  rest  on  their  Arab  agents.  The  Banians  will  not  harm 
a  flea  or  a  mosquito,  but  my  progress  in  geography  has  led 
me  to  the  discovery  that  they  are  by  far  the  -worst  cannibals 
in  all  Africa.  They  compass,  by  means  of  Arab  agents,  the 
destruction  of  more  human  lives  for  gain,  in  one  year,  than 


ABUNDANCE  OF  IVORY.  581 

the  Manyemas  do  for  their  flesh  pots  in  ten.  The  matter  of 
supplies  and  men  was  unwittingly  committed  to  these,  our 
Indian  fellow  subjects,  who  hate  to  see  me  in  their  slave  mar- 
ket, and  dread  my  disclosures  on  the  infamous  part  they  play. 
The  slaves  were  all  imbued  with  the  idea  that  they  were  not 
to  follow,  but  force  me  back,  and,  after  rioting  on  my  goods 
for  sixteen  months  on  the  way,  instead  of  three  months,  the 
whole  stock  of  goods  was  sold  off  for  slaves  and  ivory.  Some 
of  the  slaves  who  came  to  Manyema  so  baffled  and  worried 
me  that  I  had  to  return  500  or  600  miles. 

The  only  help  I  have  received,  except  half  a  supply  which 
I  despatched  from  Zanzibar,  in  1866,  has  been  from  Mr.  Stan- 
ley, your  correspondent,  and  certain  remains  of  stores,  which 
I  seized  from  the  slaves  sent  from  Zanzibar  seventeen  months 
ago,  and  I  had  to  come  back  300  miles  to  effect  the  seizure. 
I  am  here  at  Unyanyembe  only  till  Mr.  Stanley  can  send  me 
fifty  men  from  the  coast,  and  then  I  proceed  to  finish  up  the 
geographical  part  of  my  mission. 

I  come  back  to  the  slavery  question,  and  if  I  am  permitted 
in  any  way  to  promote  its  suppression,  I  shall  not  grudge  the 
toil  and  time  I  have  spent.  It  would  be  better  to  lessen, 
human  woe  than  discover  the  sources  of  the  Nile.  When 
parties  leave  Ujijito  go  westward  into  Manyema,  the  question 
asked  is  not  what  goods  they  take,  but  how  many  guns  and 
kegs  of  powder.  If  they  have  200  or  300  muskets,  and 
ammunition  in  proportion,  they  think  success  is  certain.  No 
traders  having  ever  before  entered  Manyema,  the  value  of 
ivory  was  quite  unknown ;  indeed,  the  tusks  were  left  in  the 
forests  with  the  other  bones,  where  the  animals  had  been 
slain.  Many  were  rotten ;  others  were  gnawed  by  a  rodent 
animal  to  sharpen  his  teeth,  as  London  rats  do  on  leaden 
pipes.  If  civilly  treated,  the  people  went  into  the  forest  to 
spots  where  they  knew  elephants  had  been  killed,  either  by 
traps  or  spears,  and  bought  the  tusks  for  a  few  copper  brace- 
lets. I  have  seen  parties  return  with  so  much  ivory  that  they 
carried  it  by  three  relays  of  hundreds  of  slaves,  but  even  this 
did  not  satisfy  human  greed. 


582  THE  PRETTY  MANYEMA  WOMEX. 

The  Manyema  were  found  to  be  terrified  by  the  report  of 
guns.  Some,  I  know,  believe  them  to  be  supernatural,  for 
when  the  effects  of  a  musket  ball  were  shown  on  a  goat,  they 
looked  up  to  the  clouds,  and  ofiered  to  bring  ivory  to  buy  the 
charm  by  which  lightning  was  brought  from  the  skies.  When 
a  village  was  assaulted  the  men  fled  in  terror,  and  the  women 
and  children  were  captured. 

Many  of  the  Manyema  women,  especially  far  down  the 
Lualaba,  are  very  pretty,  light-colored  and  lovely.  It  was 
common  to  hear  the  Zanzibar  slaves — whose  faces  resemble 
the  features  of  London  door  knockers,  which  some  atrocious 
iron  founder  thought  were  like  those  of  lions — say  to  each 
other : — "  Oh,  if  we  had  Manyema  wives,  what  pretty  children 
we  should  get !"  Manyema  men  and  women  were  all  vastly 
superior  to  the  slaves,  who  evidently  felt  the  inferiority  they 
had  acquired  by  wallowing  in  the  mire  of  bondage. 

Many  of  the  men  were  tall,  strapping  fellows,  with  but  little 
of  what  we  think  distinctive  of  the  negro  about  them.  If  one 
relied  on  the  teachings  of  phrenology,  the  Manyema  men 
would  take  a  high  place  in  the  human  family.  They  felt 
their  superiority,  and  often  said,  truly,  "  Were  it  not  for  fire- 
arms, not  one  of  the  strangers  would  ever  leave  our  country." 

If  a  comparison  were  instituted,  and  Manyema  taken  at 
random,  placed  opposite,  say  the  members  of  the  Anthropo- 
logical Society  of  London,  clad  in  kilts  or  grass  cloth,  I  should 
like  to  take  my  place  alongside  the  Manyema,  on  the  princi- 
ple of  preferring  the  company  of  my  betters. 

The  philosophers  would  look  wofully  scraggy  ;  but  though 
the  inferior  race,  as  we  compassionately  call  them,  have  finely 
formed  heads,  and  often  handsome  features,  they  are  undoubt- 
edly cannibals.  It  was  more  difficult  to  ascertain  this  than 
may  be  imagined.  Some  think  that  they  can  detect  the 
gnawings  of  the  canine  teeth  of  our  cannibal  ancestry  on  fossil 
bones.  Though  the  canine  teeth  of  dogs  are  pretty  much 
like  human,  for  many  months  all  the  evidence  I  could  collect 
amounted  to  what  would  lead  a  Scotch  jury  to  give  a  verdict 
of  "  not  proven."  This  arose  partly  from  the  fellows  being 


A  LAND  OF  PLENTY.  583 

fond  of  a  joke,  and  they  liked  to  horrify  any  one  who  seemed 
credulous.  They  led  one  of  my  people,  who  believed  all  they 
said,  to  see  the  skull  of  a  recent  human  victim,  and  he  invited 
me  in  triumph.  I  found  it  to  be  the  skull  of  a  gorilla,  here 
called  goko,  and  for  the  first  time  became  aware  of  the  exist- 
ence of  the  animal  there. 

The  country  abounds  in  food  of  all  kinds,  and  a  rich  soil 
raises  everything  planted  in  great  luxuriance.  A  friend  of 
mine  tried  rice,  and  in  between  three  and  four  months  the 
crop  increased  one  hundred  and  twenty  fold.  Three  measures 
of  seed  yielded  three  hundred  and  sixty  measures.  Maize  is 
so  abundant  that  I  have  seen  forty-five  loads,  each  about  sixty 
pounds  weight,  given  for  a  single  goat.  The  maize  dura  or 
holcus  sorghum,  hennistum,  cassava,  sweet  potatoe,  and  yams 
furnish  in  no  stinted  measure  farinaceous  ingredients  for  diet ; 
the  palm  oil,  groundnuts,  and  a  forest  tree  afford  fatty  mate- 
rial food ;  bananas  and  plantains,  in  great  profusion,  and  the 
sugar  cane  the  saccharine ;  the  palm  toddy,  beer  of  bananas, 
tobacco,  and  vange  canabis  salina  the  luxuries  of  life,  and  the 
villages  swarm  with  goats,  sheep,  hogs,  pigs,  and  fowls,  while 
elephants,  buffaloes,  zebras,  and  gokos,  or  gorillas,  yield  to 
expert  hunters  plenty  of  the  nitrogenous  ingredients  of  human 
food.  It  was  puzzling  to  see  why  they  should  be  cannibals: 

New  Zealanders,  we  are  told,  were  cannibals  because  they 
had  killed  all  their  gigantic  birds,  the  moa,  etc.,  and  they 
were  converted  from  the  man-eating  persuasion  by  the  intro- 
duction of  pigs ;  but  the  Manyema  have  plenty  of  pigs,  and 
other  domestic  animals,  and  yet  they  are  cannibals.  Into  the 
reason  for  their  cannibalism  they  do  not  enter.  They  say 
that  human  flesh  is  not  equal  to  that  of  goats  or  pigs.  It  is 
saltish,  and  makes  them  dream  of  the  dead. 

"Why  fine-looking  men  like  them  should  be  so  low  in  the 
moral  scale,  can  only  be  attributed  to  the  non-introduction  of 
that  religion  which  makes  those  distinctions  among  men 
which  phrenology  and  other  "  ologies ,'  cannot  explain.  The 
religion  of  Christ  is  unquestionably  the  best  for  man.  I  refer 
to  it  not  as  the  Protestant,  the  Catholic,  the  Greek,  or  any 
30 


584:  SCENES  IX  THE  MARKET. 

other,  but  to  the  comprehensive  faith  which  has  spread  more 
widely  over  the  world  than  most  people  imagine,  and  whose 
votaries,  of  whatever  name,  are  better  men  than  any  outside 
the  pale.  "We  have,  no  doubt,  grievous  faults,  but  these  are 
in  part  owing  to  want  of  religion.  Christians  generally  are 
better  than  the  heathen,  but  often  don't  know  it,  and  they 
are  immeasurably  better  than  they  believe  each  other  to  be. 

The  Manyema  women,  especially  far  down  the  Lualaba, 
are  very  pretty  and  very  industrious.  The  market  with  them 
is  a  great  institution,  and  they  work  hard  and  carry  far  in 
order  to  have  something  to  sell.  Markets  are  established 
about  ten  or  fifteen  miles  apart.  There  those  who  raise  cas- 
sava, maize,  grain,  and  sweet  potatoes  exchange  them  for  oil, 
salt,  pepper,  fish,  and  other  relishes.  Fowls,  also  pigs,  goats, 
grass-cloth,  mats,  and  other  articles  change  hands.  All 
dressed  in  their  best  candy-colored,  many-folded  kilts,  that 
reach  from  waist  to  knee ;  when  two  or  three  thousand  are 
together  they  form  an  interesting  sight.  They  enforce  jus- 
tice, though  chiefly  women,  and  they  are  so  eager  traders  that 
they  set  off  in  companies  by  night,  and  begin  to  run  as  soon 
as  they  come  within  the  hum  arising  from  hundreds  of  voices. 

To  haggle,  and  joke,  and  laugh,  and  cheat,  seem  the  dear- 
est enjoyments  of  life.  They  confer  great  benefit  upon  each 
other.  The  Manyema  women  are  expert  divers  for  oysters, 
and  they  sell  them  and  fish  in  exchange  for  farinaceous  food 
from  the  women  in  the  East,  the  Lualaba,  who  prefer  culti- 
vating the  soil  to  fishing. 

The  Manyema  have  always  told  us  that  women  going  to 
market  are  never  molested.  "When  the  men  of  two  districts 
were  engaged  in  actual  open  hostilities,  the  women  passed 
through  from  one  market  to  another  unharmed.  To  take 
away  her  goods,  even  in  war,  was  a  thing  not  to  be  done ; 
but  at  these  market  women  the  half-castes  directed  their 
guns. 

Two  cases  that  came  under  my  own  observation  were  so 
sickening  that  I  cannot  allow  my  mind  to  dwell  upon  or  write 
about  them.  Many  of  both  sexes  were  killed,  but  the  women 


HORRORS  OF  THE  SLAVE-TRADE.  585 

and  children  chiefly  made  captives.  ISTo  matter  how  much 
ivory  they  obtained,  these  nigger  Moslems  must  have  slaves, 
and  they  assaulted  market  people  and  villages,  and  made  cap- 
tives, chiefly  of  women  and  children,  as  it  appeared  to  me, 
and  because,  as  men  ran  off  at  the  report  of  guns,  they  could 
do  it  without  danger. 

I  had  no  idea  before  how  bloodthirsty  men  can  be  when 
they  can  pour  out  the  blood  of  their  fellow  men  in  safety ; 
and  all  this  carnage  is  going  on  in  Manyema  at  the  very  time 
I  write.  It  is  the  Banians,  our  protected  Indian  fellow  sub- 
jects, that  indirectly  do  it. 

All  we  have  conceded  the  Sultan  of  Zanzibar  has  been  a 
right  which  it  was  not  ours  to  give,  of  a  certain  amount  of 
slave  trading,  and  that  amount  has  been  from  twelve  thousand 
to  twenty  thousand  slaves  a  year,  as  we  have  seen.  These 
are  not  traded  for  but  murdered ;  they  are  not  slaves,  but  free 
people  made  captive.  A  Sultan  with  a  sense  of  justice  would, 
instead  of  taking  head  money,  declare  that  all  were  free  as 
soon  as  they  reached  his  territory ;  but  Banians  have  the  Cus- 
tom House  and  all  the  Sultan's  revenue  entirely  in  their 
hands.  He  cannot  trust  his  Mohammedan  subjects,  even  of 
the  better  class,  to  farm  the  income,  because,  as  they  them- 
selves say,  he  would  get  nothing  in  return  but  a  crop  of  lies. 
The  Banians  actually  work  the  Custom  House  so  as  to  screen 
their  own  slave  agents,  and  so  long  as  they  have  power  to 
promote  it,  their  atrocious  system  of  slavery  will  never  cease 
for  sake  of  lawful  commerce. 

It  would  be  politic  to  insist  that  the  Sultan's  revenue  by 
the  Custom  House  should  be  placed  in  the  hands  of  an  English 
or  American  merchant  of  known  reputation  and  uprightness. 
By  this  arrangement  the  Sultan  would  be  largely  benefited, 
legal  commerce  be  exalted  to  a  position  it  has  never  held  since 
the  Banians  and  Moslems  emigrated  into  Eastern  Africa,  and 
Christianity,  to  which  the  slave  trade  is  an  insurmountable 
barrier,  would  find  an  open  door. 

DAVID  LIVINGSTONE. 


CHAPTER  XXXYI. 
LIVINGSTONE'S  STORY  OF  HIS  DISCOVERIES. 


letters  from  Dr.  Livingstone  to  Lord  Clarendon,  were 
-  also  brought  to  England  by  Mr.  Stanley.  They  were 
•written  only  a  few  days  before  the  arrival  of  the  Expedition 
at  Ujiji-  In  one  of  them,  Dr.  Livingstone  explains  quite 
fully  his  geographical  discoveries  ;  in  the  other,  he  refers  to 
Musa's  story  of  his  assassination,  and  thanks  all  who  assisted 
in  sending  out  the  first  English  Expedition  for  his  relief. 

Ujiji,  Nov.  1,  18T1. 

MY  LORD  —  I  wrote  a  very  hurried  letter  on  the  28th  ult., 
and  sent  it  by  a  few  men,  who  had  resolved  to  run  the  risk 
of  passing  through  contending  parties  of  Banyamwezi  and 
mainland  Arabs  at  TJnyanyembe,  which  is  some  twenty  days 
east  of  this.  I  had  just  come  off  a  tramp  of  more  than  four 
hundred  miles,  beneath  a  vertical  torrid  sun,  and  was  so  jaded 
in  body  and  mind  by  being  forced  back  by  faithless,  cowardly 
attendants,  that  I  could  have  written  little  more,  even  if  the 
messengers  had  not  been  in  such  a  hurry  to  depart  as  they 
were.  I  have  now  the  prospect  of  sending  this  safely  to  the 
coast  by  a  friend  ;  but  so  many  of  my  letters  have  disappeared 
at  Unyanyembe  when  entrusted  to  the  care  of  the  Lewale,  or 
Governor,  who  is  merely  the  trade  agent  of  certain  Banians, 
that  I  shall  consider  that  of  the  28th  as  one  of  the  unfortun- 
ates, and  give  in  this  as  much  as  I  can  recall. 

I  have  ascertained  that  the  watershed  of  the  Nile  is  a  broad 
.npland,  between  ten  degrees  and  twelve  degrees  south  latitude, 

586 


PRIMARY  SOURCES  OF  THE  NILE.  587 

and  from  four  thousand  to  five  thousand  feet  above  the  level 
of  the  sea.  Mountains  stand  on  it  at  various  points,  which, 
though  not  apparently  very  high,  are  between  six  thousand 
and  seven  thousand  feet  of  actual  altitude.  The  watershed 
is  over  seven  hundred  miles  in.  length,  from  west  to  east. 
The  springs  that  rise  on  it  are  almost  innumerable — that  is, 
it  would  take  a  large  part  of  a  man's  life  to  count  them.  A 
bird's-eye  view  of  some  parts  of  the  watershed  would  resem- 
ble the  frost  vegetation  on  window-panes.  They  all  begin 
in  an  ooze  at  the  head  of  a  slightly  depressed  valley.  A  few 
hundred  yards  down,  the  quantity  of  water  from  oozing 
earthen  sponge  forms  a  brisk  perennial  burn  or  brook,  a  few 
feet  broad,  and  deep  enough  to  require  a  bridge. 

These  are  the  ultimate  or  primary  sources  of  the  great 
rivers  that  flow  to  the  north,  in  the  great  Kile  Valley.  Tho 
primeries  unite  and  form  streams  in  general  larger  than  the 
Isis  at  Oxford,  or  Avon  at  Hamilton,  and  may  be  called  sec- 
ondary sources.  They  never  dry,  but  unite  again  into  four 
large  lines  of  drainage,  the  head  waters  or  mains  of  the  river 
of  Egypt.  These  four  are  each  called  by  the  natives  Lualaba, 
which,  if  not  too  pedantic,  may  be  spoken  of  as  lacustrine 
rivers,  extant  specimens  of  those  which,  in  pre-historic  times, 
abounded  in  Africa,  and  which  in  the  south  are  still  called  by 
Bechuanas  "Melapo,"  in  the  north,  by  Arabs,  ""Wadys;" 
both  words  meaning  the  same  thing — river  bed  in  which  no 
water  ever  now  flows.  Two  of  the  four  great  rivers  men- 
tioned fall  into  the  central  Lualaba,  or  Webb's  Lake  River, 
and  then  we  have  but  two  main  lines  of  drainage,  as  depicted 
nearly  by  Ptolemy. 

The  prevailing  winds  on  the  watershed  are  from  the  south- 
east. This  is  easily  observed  by  the  direction  of  the  branches, 
and  the  humidity  of  the  climate  is  apparent  in  the  numbers 
of  linchens,  which  make  the  upland  forest  look  like  the  man- 
grove swamps  on  the  coast. 

In  passing  over  sixty  miles  of  latitude  I  waded  thirty-two 
primary  sources,  from  calf  to  waist  deep,  and  requiring  from 
twenty  minutes  to  an  hour  and  a  quarter  to  cross  stream  and 


588  LAKE  BANGWEOLO. 

sponge.  This  would  give  about  one  source  to  every  two 
miles. 

A  Suaheli  friend,  in  passing  along  part  of  the  Lake  Bang- 
weolo,  during  six  days  counted  twenty-two  from  thigh  to 
waist  deep.  This  lake  is  on  the  watershed,  for  the  village  at 
which  I  observed,  on  its  northwest  shore,  was  a  few  seconds 
into  eleven  degrees  south,  and  its  southern  shores,  and  springs 
and  rivulets  are  certainly  in  twelve  degrees  south.  I  tried 
to  cross  it  in  order  to  measure  the  breadth  accurately.  The 
first  stage  to  an  inhabited  island  was  about  twenty -four  miles. 
From  the  highest  point  here,  the  tops  of  the  trees,  evidently 
lifted  by  the  mirage,  could  be  seen  on  the  second  stage  and  the 
third  stage ;  the  mainland  was  said  to  be  as  far  as  this  beyond 
it.  But  my  canoe  men  had  stolen  the  canoe,  and  got  a  hint 
that  the  real  owners  were  in  pursuit,  and  got  into  a  flurry  to 
return  home.  "  They  would  come  back  for  me  in  a  few  days 
truly,"  but  I  had  only  my  coverlet  left  to  hire  another  craft, 
if  they  should  leave  me  in  this  wide  expanse  of  water,  and 
being  four  thousand  feet  above  the  sea,  it  was  very  cold ;  so 
I  returned. 

The  length  of  this  lake  is,  at  a  very  moderate  estimate,  one 
hundred  and  fifty  miles.  It  gives  forth  a  large  body  of  water 
in  the  Luapula ;  yet  lakes  are  in  no  sense  sources,  for  no  large 
river  begins  in  a  lake  ;  but  this  and  others  serve  an  important 
purpose  in  the  phenomena  of  the  Nile.  It  is  one  large  lake, 
and,  unlike  the  Okara,  which,  according  to  Suaheli,  who 
traveled  long  in  our  company,  is  three  or  four  lakes  run  into 
one  huge  Victoria  Nyanza,  gives  out  a  large  river  which,  on 
departing  out  of  Moero,  is  still  larger.  These  men  had  spent 
many  years  east  of  Okara,  and  could  scarcely  be  mistaken  in 
Baying  that  of  the  three  or  four  lakes  there,  only  one  (the 
Okara)  gives  off  its  waters  to  the  north. 

The  White  Nile"  of  Speke,  less  by  a  full  half  than  the 
Shire  at  Nyassa,  (for  it  is  only  eighty  or  ninety  yards  broad), 
can  scarcely  be  named  in  comparison  with  the  central  or 
Webb's  Lualaba,  of  from  two  thousand  to  six  thousand  yards, 
in  relation  to  the  phenomena  of  the  Nile.  The  structure  and 


ANCIENT  GEOGRAPHY— MODERN  TRASH.  589 

economy  of  the  watershed  answer  very  much  the  same  end  as 
the  great  lacustrine  rivers,  but  I  cannot  at  present  copy  a  lost 
despatch  which  explained  that.  The  mountains  on  the  water- 
shed are  probably  what  Ptolemy,  for  reasons  now  unknown, 
called  the  Mountains  of  the  Moon.  From  their  bases  I  found 
that  the  springs  of  the  Nile  do  unquestionably  arise.  This 
is  just  what  Ptolemy  put  down,  and  is  true  geography.  We 
must  accept  the  fountains,  and  nobody  but  Philistines  will 
reject  the  mountains,  though  we  cannot  conjecture  a  reason 
for  the  name. 

*  *  *  *  *  *  # 

Many  a  weary  foot  I  trod  ere  I  got  a  clear  idea  of  the 
drainage  of  the  great  Nile  Valley.  The  most  intelligent 
natives  and  traders  thought  that  all  the  rivers  of  the  upper 
part  of  that  valley  flowed  into  Tanganyika.  But  the  barom- 
eters told  me  that  to  do  so  the  water  must  flow  up  hill.  The 
great  rivers  and  the  great  lakes  all  make  their  waters  converge 
into  the  deep  trough  of  the  valley,  which  is  a  full  inch  of  the 
barometer  lower  than  the  Upper  Tanganyika.  It  is  only  a 
sense  of  duty,  which  I  trust  your  lordship  will  approve,  that 
makes  me  remain,  and,  if  possible,  finish  the  geographical 
question  of  my  mission.  After  being  thwarted,  baffled, 
robbed,  worried  almost  to  death  in  following  the  central  line 
of  drainage  down,  I  have  a  sore  longing  for  home ;  have  had 
a  perfect  surfeit  of  seeing  strange,  new  lands  and  people,  grand 
mountains,  lovely  valleys,  the  glorious  vegetation  of  primeval 
forests,  wild  beasts,  and  an  endless  succession  of  beautiful 
man ;  besides  great  rivers  and  vast  lakes — the  last  most  inter- 
esting from  their  huge  outflowings,  which  explain  some  of 
the  phenomena  of  the  grand  old  Nile. 

Let  me  explain,  but  in  no  boastful  style,  the  mistakes  of 
others  who  have  bravely  striven  to  solve  the  ancient  problem, 
and  it  will  be  seen  that  I  have  cogent  reasons  for  following 
the  painful,  plodding  investigation  to  its  conclusion.  Poor 
Speke's  mistake  was  a  foregone  conclusion.  When  he  discov- 
ered the  Victoria  Nyanza,  he  at  once  jumped  to  the  conclu- 


590  MISTAKES  OF  SPEKE  AND  BAKER. 

sion  that  therein  lay  the  sources  of  the  river  of  Egypt ; 
"  twenty  thousand  square  miles  of  water  "  confused  by  sheer 
immensity. 

Ptolemy's  small  lake,  "  Coloc,"  is  a  more  correct  represent- 
ation of  the  actual  size  of  that  one  of  three  or  four  lakes, 
which  alone  sends  its  outflow  to  the  north.  Its  name  is 
Okara.  Lake  Kavirondo  is  three  days  distant  from  it,  but 
connected  by  a  narrow  arm.  Lake  Naibash,  or  Neibash,  is 
four  days  from  Kavirondo.  Baringo  is  ten  days  distant,  and 
discharges  by  a  river,  the  Nagardabash,  to  the  north-east. 

These  three  or  four  lakes,  which  have  been  described  by 
several  intelligent  Suaheli,  who  have  lived  for  many  years  on 
their  shores,  were  run  into  one  huge  Victoria  Nyanza.  But 
no  sooner  did  Speke  and  Grant  turn  their  faces  to  this  lake, 
to  prove  that  it  contained  the  Nile  fountains,  than  they  turned 
their  backs  to  the  springs  of  the  river  of  Egypt,  which  are 
between  four  hundred  and  five  hundred  miles  south  of  the 
most  southerly  portion  of  the  Yictoria  Lake.  Every  step  of 
their  heroic  and  really  splendid  achievement  of  following  the 
river  down,  took  them  further  and  further  from  the  sources 
they  sought.  But  for  the  devotion  to  the  foregone  conclu- 
sion, the  sight  of  the  little  "White  Nile,"  as,  unable  to 
account  for  the  great  river,  they  must  have  turned  off  to  the 
west,  down  into  the  deep  trough  of  the  great  valley,  and 
there  found  lacustrine  rivers  amply  sufficient  to  account  for 
the  Nile  and  all  its  phenomena. 

The  next  explorer,  Baker,  believed  as  honestly  as  Speke 
and  Grant,  that  in  the  Lake  River  Albert  he  had,  a  second 
source  of  the  Nile  to  that  of  Speke.  He  came  further  up  the 
Nile  than  any  other  in  modern  times,  but  turned  when 
between  six  hundred  and  seven  miles  short  of  the  caput  Nili. 
He  is  now  employed  in  a  more  noble  work  than  the  discovery 
of  Nile  sources ;  and  if,  as  all  must  earnestly  wish,  he  succeeds 
in  suppressing  the  Nile  slave  trade,  the  boon  he  will  bestow 
on  humanity  will  be  of  far  higher  value  than  all  my  sources 
together. 

When  intelligent  men  like  these  and  Bruce  have  been  mis- 


EARLY  EXPLORATIONS  OF  IXXER  AFRICA.  591 

taken,  I  have  naturally  felt  anxious  that  no  one  should  come 
after  me  and  find  sources  south  of  mine,  which  I  now  think 
can  only  be  possible  by  water  running  up  the  southern  slope 
of  the  watershed. 

But  all  that  can  in  modern  times  and  in  common  modesty 
be  fairly  claimed,  is  the  re-discovery  of  what  had  sunk  into 
oblivion,  like  the  circumnavigation  of  Africa  by  the  Phoeni- 
cian admirals  of  one  of  the  Pharaohs,  about  B.  C.  600.  He 
was  not  believed,  because  he  reported  that  in  passing  round 
Libya  he  had  the  sun  on  his  right  hand.  This,  to  us  who 
have  gone  round  the  Cape  from  east  to  west,  stamps  his  tale 
as  genuine. 

The  predecessors  of  Ptolemy  probably  gained  their  infor- 
mation from  men  who  visited  this  very  region,  for  in  the 
second  century  of  our  era  he  gave  in  substance  what  we  now 
find  to  be  genuine  geography. 

The  springs  of  the  Nile,  rising  in  ten  degrees  to  twelve 
degrees  south  latitude,  and  their  water  collecting  into  two 
large  lacustrine  rivers,  and  other  facts,  could  have  been  learn- 
ed only  from  primitive  travelers  or  traders — the  true  dis- 
coverers of  what  emperors,  kings,  philosophers,  all  the  great 
minds  of  antiquity,  longed  to  know,  and  longed  in  vain. 

In  a  letter  of  November,  1870,  now  enclosed,  I  have  tried 
to  give  an  idea  of  the  difficulties  encountered  in  following 
the  central  line  of  drainage  through  the  country  of  the  canni- 
bals, called  Manynema  or  Manyema.  I  found  it  a  year  after- 
wards, where  it  was  left.  Other  letters  had  made  no  further 
progress  to  the  coast ;  in  fact,  Manyema  country  is  an  entirely 
new  field,  and  nothing  like  postage  exists,  nor  can  letters  be 
sent  to  Ujiji  except  by  large  trading  parties  who  have  spent 
two  or  three  years  in  Manyema. 

The  geographical  results  of  four  arduous  trips  in  different 
directions  in  the  Manyema  country  are  briefly  as  follows : — 
The  great  river,  Webb's  Lualaba,  in  the  centre  of  the  Nile 
valley,  makes  a  great  bend  to  the  west,  soon  after  leaving 
Lake  Moero,  of  at  least  one  hundred  and  eighty  miles ;  then, 
turning  to  the  north  for  some  distance,  it  makes  another  large 


592  RESULTS  or  FOUR  JOURNEYS. 

sweep  west  of  about  one  hundred  and  twenty  miles,  in  the 
course  of  which  about  thirty  miles  of  southing  are  made  ;  it 
then  draws  round  to  northeast,  receives  the  Lomani,  or  Locki, 
a  large  river  which  flows  through  Lake  Lincoin.  After  the 
union  a  large  lake  is  formed,  with  many  inhabited  islands  in 
it ;  but  this  has  still  to  be  explored.  It  is  the  fourth  largo 
lake  in  the  central  line  of  drainage,  and  cannot  be  Lake 
Albert;  for,  assuming  Speke's  longitude  of  Ujiji  to  be  pretty 
correct,  and  my  reckoning  not  enormously  wrong,  the  great 
central  lacustrine  river  is  about  five  degrees  west  of  Upper 
and  Lower  Tanganyika. 

The  mean  of  many  barometric  and  boiling-point  observa- 
tions made  Upper  Tanganyika  two  thousand  eight  hundred 
and  eighty  feet  high.  Respect  for  Speke's  memory  made  me 
hazard  the  conjecture  that  he  found  it  to  be  nearly  the  same, 
but  from  the  habit  of  writing  the  Annum  Domini,  a  mere 
slip  of  the  pen  made  him  say  one  thousand  eight  hundred 
and  forty  four  feet ;  but  I  have  more  confidence  in  the  bar- 
ometers than  in  the  boiling  points,  and  they  make  Tanganika 
over  three  thousand  feet,  and  the  lower  part  of  Central  Lua- 
laba  one  inch  lower,  or  about  the  altitude  ascribed  to  Gondo- 
koro. 

Beyond  the  fourth  lake  the  water  passes,  it  is  said,  into 
large  reedy  lakes,  and  is  in  all  probability  Petherick's  branch 
— the  main  stream  of  the  Nile — in  distinction  from  the  small- 
er eastern  arm  which  Speke,  Grant  and  Baker  took  to  be  the 
river  of  Egypt. 

The  Manyema  could  give  no  information  about  their  coun- 
try, because  they  never  travel.  No  trader  had  gone  so  far  as 
I  had,  and  their  people  cared  only  for  ivory. 

They  call  the  good  spirit  above  "  Ngulu,"  or  the  Great 
One,  and  the  spirit  of  evil,  who  resides  in  the  deep,  "  Mulam- 
bu."  A  hot  fountain  near  Bambarre  is  supposed  to  belong 
to  this  being,  the  author  of  death  by  drowning,  and  other 
misfortunes.  Yours  &c., 

DAVED  LIVINGSTONE, 
Her  Majesty's  Consul,  Inner  Africa. 


CHAPTER  XXXVII. 

EXPEKIENCES  WITH  BANIANS  AND  THEIK 
SLAVES. 

IN  the  following  letter  to  the  Earl  of  Granville,  Dr.  Liv- 
ingstone gives  a  graphic  and  straight -forward  account  of 
the  manner  in  which  he  was  cheated  by  the  Banians  and  their 
accomplices,  and  how  he  was  perplexed  and  baffled  by  their 
Moslem  slaves. 

TJjui,  Nov.  14,  1871. 

My  Lord — In  my  letter  dated  Bambarre,  November,  1870, 
now  enclosed,  I  stated  my  grave  suspicions  that  a  packet 
of  about  forty  letters — despatches,  copies  of  all  the  astron- 
omical observations  from  the  coast  onwards,  and  sketch 
maps  on  tracing  paper,  intended  to  convey  a  clear  idea  of  all 
the  discoveries  up  to  the  time  of  arrival  at  Ujiji — would  be 
destroyed.  It  was  delivered  to  the  agent  here  of  the  Gov- 
ernor of  Unyanyembe,  and  I  paid  him  in  full  all  he  demanded 
to  transmit  it  to  Syde  bin  Salem  Buraschid,  the  so-called 
Governor,  who  is  merely  a  trade  agent  of  certain  Banians  of 
Zanzibar,  and  a  person  who  is  reputed  dishonest  by  all.  As 
an  agent  he  pilfers  from  his  employers,  be  they  Banians  or 
Arabs ;  as  a  Governor,  expected  to  exercise  the  office  of  a 
magistrate,  he  dispenses  justice  to  him  who  pays  most ;  and 
as  the  subject  of  a  Sultan,  who  entrusted  him  because  he  had 
no  power  on  the  mainland  to  supersede  him,  he  robs  his  supe- 
rior shamelessly.  No  Arab  or  native  ever  utters  a  good  word 
for  him,  but  all  detest  him  for  his  injustice. 

The  following  narrative  requires  it  to  be  known  that  his 
brother,  Ali  bin  Salem  Buraschid,  is  equally  notorious  for 

593 


591  THE  BAXIANS  AND  ARABS. 

unblushing  dishonesty.  All  Arabs  and  Europeans  who  have 
had  dealings  with  either,  speak  in  unmeasured  terms  of  their 
fraud  and  duplicity.  The  brothers  are  employed  in  trade, 
chiefly  by  Ludha  Damji,  the  richest  Banian  in  Zanzibar. 

It  is  well  known  that  the  slave  trade  in  this  country  is 
carried  on  almost  entirely  with  his  money  and  that  of  other 
Banian  British  subjects.  The  Banians  advance  the  goods 
required,  and  the  Arabs  proceed  inland  as  their  agents,  per- 
form the  trading,  or  rather  murdering,  and  when  slaves  and 
ivory  are  brought  to  the  coast  the  Arabs  sell  the  slaves.  The 
Banians  pocket  the  price,  and  adroitly  let  the  odium  rest  on 
their  agents.  As  a  rule  no  traveling  Arab  has  money  suffi- 
cient to  undertake  an  inland  journey.  Those  who  have 
become  rich  imitate  the  Banians,  and  send  their  indigent 
countrymen  and  slaves  to  trade  for  them.  The  Banians 
could  scarcely  carry  on  their  system  of  trade  were  they  not 
in  possession  of  the  custom-house,  and  had  power  to  seize 
all  the  goods  that  pass  through  it  to  pay  themselves  for  debts. 
The  so-called  Governors  are  appointed  on  their  recommenda- 
tion, and  become  mere  trade  agents.  When  the  Arabs  in  the 
interior  are  assaulted  by  the  natives  they  never  unite  under 
a  Governor  as  a  leader,  for  they  know  that  defending  them 
or  concerting  means  for  their  safety  is  no  part  of  his  duty. 

The  Arabs  are  nearly  all  in  debt  to  the  Banians,  and  the 
Banian  slaves  are  employed  in  ferreting  out  every  trade 
transaction  of  the  debtors,  and  when  watched  by  Governor's 
slaves  and  custom-house  officers  it  is  scarcely  possible  for 
even  this  cunning,  deceitful  race  to  escape  being  fleeced.  To 
avoid  this,  many  surrender  all  their  ivory  to  their  Banian 
creditors,  and  are  allowed  to  keep  or  sell  the  slaves  as  their 
share  of  the  profits.  It  will  readily  be  perceived,  that  the 
prospect  of  in  any  way  coming  under  the  power  of  Banian 
British  subjects  at  Zanzibar  is  very  far  from  reassuring. 

The  packet  above  referred  to  was  never  more  heard  of,  but 
a  man  called  Musa  Kamaah  had  been  employed  to  drive  some 
buffaloes  for  me  from  the  coast,  and  on  leaving  Ujiji,  the 
same  day  the  packet  was  delivered  for  transmission,  I  gave 


"  BIRDS  OF  ONE  FEATHER."  595 

hiia  a  short  letter,  dated  May,  1869,  which  he  concealed 
on  his  person,  knowing  that  on  its  production  his  wages 
depended.  He  had  been  a  spectator  of  the  plundering  of  my 
goods  by  the  Governor's  slave,  Saloom,  and  received  a  share 
to  hold  his  peace.  He  was  detained  for  months  at  Unyan- 
yembe  by  the  Governor,  and  even  sent  back  to  TJjiji  on  his 
private  business,  he  being  ignorant  all  the  while  that  Kamaah 
possessed  the  secreted  letter.  It  was  the  only  document  of 
more  than  forty,  that  reached  Zanzibar.  It  made  known  in 
some  measure  my  wants,  but  my  checks  on  Bombay  for 
money  were  in  the  lost  packet,  and  Ludha,  the  rich  Banian, 
was  employed  to  furnish  on  credit  all  the  goods  and  advances 
of  pay  for  the  men  required  in  the  expedition. 

Ludha  is,  perhaps,  the  best  of  all  the  Banians  of  Zanzibar, 
but  he  applied  to  Ali  bin  Salem,  the  brother  of  his  agent  the 
Governor,  to  furnish  two  head  men  to  conduct  the  goods  and 
men  to  TJjiji  and  beyond  it,  wherever  I  might  be  there  report- 
ed to  be.  He  recommended  Shereef  Bosher  and  Awathe  as 
first  and  second  conductors  of  the  caravan.  Shereef,  the  Gov- 
ernor, and  the  Governor's  brother  being  "  birds  of  one  feath- 
er," the  consequences  might  have  been  foretold. 

No  sooner  did  Shereef  obtain  command,  than  he  went  to 
one  Muhamad  Nassur,  a  Zanzibar-born  Banian  or  Hindoo, 
and  he  advanced  twenty-five  boxes  of  soap  and  eight  cases  of 
brandy  for  trade.  He  then  went  to  Bagomoyo,  on  the  main- 
land, and  received  from  two  Banians  there,  whose  names  are 
to  me  unknown,  quantities  of  opium  and  gunpowder,  which, 
with  the  soap  and  brandy,  were  to  be  retailed  by  Shereef  on 
the  journey.  In  the  Bagomoyo  Banian's  house,  Shereef 
broke  the  soap  boxes,  and  stowed  the  contents  and  the  opium 
in  my  bales  of  calipo,  in  order  that  the  pagazi  or  carriers  paid 
by  me  should  carry  them. 

Other  pagazi  were  employed  to  carry  the  cases  of  brandy 
and  kegs  of  gunpowder,  and  paid  with  my  cloth.  Hence- 
forth all  the  expenses  of  the  journey  were  defrayed  out  of 
my  property,  and  while  retailing  the  barter  goods  of  his 
Banian  accomplices  he  was  in  no  hurry  to  relieve  my  wants, 


696  HOW  LIVINGSTONE  WAS  SWINDLED. 

but  spent  fourteen  months  between  the  coast  and  Ujiji,  a  dis- 
tance which  could  easily  have  been  accomplished  in  three. 

Making  every  allowance  for  detention  by  sickness  in  the 
party,  and  by  sending  back  for  men  to  replace  the  first  pagazi, 
who  perished  by  cholera,  the  delays  were  quite  shameless. 
Two  months  at  one  spot,  two  months  at  another  place,  and 
two  months  at  a  third,  without  reason  except  desire  to  retail 
his  brandy,  &c.,  which  some  simple  people  think  Moslems 
never  drink,  but  he  was  able  to  send  back  from  Unyanyembe 
over  £60  worth  of  ivory — the  pagazi  again  paid  from  my 
stores.  He  then  ran  riot  with  the  supplies,  all  the  way  pur- 
chasing the  most  expensive  food  for  himself,  his  slaves,  his 
women,  the  country  afforded.  When  he  reached  Ujiji  his 
retail  trade  for  the  Banians  and  himself  was  finished,  and  in 
defiance  of  his  engagement  to  follow  wherever  I  led,  (and 
men  from  a  camp  eight  days  beyond  Bambarre  went  to  Ujiji 
and  reported  to  him  that  I  was  near  and  waiting  for  him,)  he 
refused  their  invitation  to  return  with  them. 

The  Banians,  who  advanced  their  goods  for  retail  by 
Shereef,  had,  in  fact,  taken  advantage  of  the  notorious  East 
African  Moslem  duplicity  to  interpose  their  own  trade  specu- 
lation between  two  government  officers,  and,  almost  within 
the  shadow  of  the  Consulate,  supplant  Dr.  Kirk's  attempt  to 
aid  me,  by  a  fraudulent  conversion  of  the  help  expedition  to  the 
gratification  of  their  own  greed.  Shereef  was  their  ready 
tool,  and  having  at  Ujiji  finished  the  Banian  trade,  he  acted 
as  if  he  had  forgotten  having  ever  been  employed  by  any 
one  else.  Here  the  drunken  half-caste  Moslem  tailor  lay 
intoxicated  at  times  for  a  month ;  the  drink — palm-toddy  and 
pombe — all  bought  with  my  beads,  of  course. 

Awathe,  the  other  head  man,  was  a  spectator  of  all  the 
robbery  from  the  coast  onwards,  and  never  opened  his  mouth 
in  remonstrance,  or  in  sending  notice  to  the  Consul.  He  had 
carefully  concealed  an  infirmity  when  engaged,  which  ren- 
dered him  quite  incapable  of  performing  a  single  duty  for 
me,  and  he  now  asserts,  like  the  Johanna  deserters,  that  he 
ought  to  be  paid  all  his  wages  in  full.  I  shall  narrate  below 


LIVINGSTONE'S  GOODS  SOLD.  597 

how  seven  of  the  Banian  slaves  bought  by  Shereef  and  Awathe 
imitated  their  leaders,  and  refused  to  go  forward,  and  ulti- 
mately, by  falsehood  and  cowardice,  forced  me  to  return 
between  four  hundred  and  five  hundred  miles.  But  here  I 
may  mention  how  Shereef  finished  up  his  services.  Ho 
wrote  to  his  friend,  the  Governor  of  Unyanyembe,  for  per- 
mission to  sell  the  debris  of  my  goods,  "  because,"  said  he, 
"  I  sent  slaves  to  Manyema  to  secarch  for  the  Doctor,  but 
they  returned  and  said  that  he  was  dead."  lie  also  divined 
on  the  Koran,  and  it  told  the  same  tale. 

It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  add  that  he  never  sent  slaves 
in  search  of  me,  and  from  the  people  above  mentioned,  who 
returned  from  a  camp  in  front  of  Bambarre,  he  learned  that 
I  was  alive  and  well.  So,  on  his  own  authority  and  that  of 
the  Koran,  he  sold  off  the  remaining  goods  at  merely  nomi- 
nal prices  to  his  friends  for  ivory  and  slaves,  for  himself,  and 
I  lately  returned  to  find  myself  destitute  of  everything 
except  a  very  few  articles  of  barter,  which  I  took  the  precau- 
tion to  leave  here  in  case  of  extreme  need. 

I  have  stated  the  case  to  Dr.  Kirk,  acting  political  agent 
and  Consul  at  Zanzibar,  and  claim  as  simple  justice  that  the 
Banians,  who  are  rich  English  subjects,  should,  for  stepping 
in  between  me  and  the  supplies  sent,  be  compelled  to  refund 
the  entire  expenses  of  the  frustrated  expedition,  and  all  the 
high  interest — twenty  or  twenty-five  per  cent,  thereon— set 
down  against  me  in  Ludha's  books ;  if  not  also  the  wages  of 
my  people  and  personal  expenses  for  two  years,  the  time 
during  which,  by  their  surreptitious  agent,  Shereef,  my  ser- 
vants and  myself  were  prevented  from  executing  our  regu- 
lar duty. 

The  late  Sultan  Seyed  Majid,  compelled  the  Arab  who 
connived  at  the  plunder  of  all  the  Baron  Yander  Decken's 
goods  in  a  vain  attempt  to  reach  Lake  Nyassa,  to  refund  the 
whole.  It  is  inconceivable  that  the  dragoman  and  other 
paid  servants  of  the  consulate  were  ignorant  of  the  fraud 
practised  by  the  Banians  on  Dr.  Kirk  and  me. 

All  the  Banians  and  Banian  slaves  were  perfectly  well 


598  LIVINGSTONE'S  LIFE  AND  TRAVELS. 

aware  of  Muhamad  Nassur's  complicity.  The  villiany  of 
saddling  on  me  all  the  expenses  of  their  retail  venture  of 
soap,  brandy,  opium  and  gunpowder  was  perpetrated  in  open 
day,  and  could  not  escape  the  notice  of  the  paid  agents  of  the 
Consul ;  but  how  this  matter  was  concealed  from  him,  and 
also  the  dishonest  characters  of  Syed  bin  Ali  Buraschid  and 
Shereef,,  it  is  difficult  to  conceive.  The  oft-repeated  assevera- 
tion of  Shereef  that  he  acted  throughout  on  the  advice  of  Ludah, 
may  have  a  ray  of  truth  in  it.  But  a  little  gentle  pressure 
on  Syed  Burghash,  the  present  Sultan,  will  probably  ensure 
the  punishment  of  Shereef,  though  it  is  highly  probable  he 
will  take  refuge  near  the  Governor  of  Unyanyembe  till  the 
affair  blows  over.  If  the  rich  Banian  English  subjects  be 
compelled  to  refund,  this  alone  will  deter  them  from  again 
plundering  the  servants  of  a  government  which  goes  to  great 
expense  for  their  protection. 

I  will  now  proceed  to  narrate  in  as  few  words  as  possible 
how  I  have  been  baffled  by  the  Banian  slaves  sent  by  Ludah, 
instead  of  men.  They  agreed  to  go  to  Ujiji,  and,  having 
there  ascertained  where  I  was  to  be  found,  were  to  follow 
me  as  boatmen,  carriers,  woodmen,  or  in  every  capacity 
required,  without  reference  to  the  customs  of  other  expedi- 
tions. Each  on  being  engaged  received  an  advance  of  thirty 
dollars,  and  a  promise  of  five  dollars  a  month  afterwards. 
This  was  double  to  Zanzibar  freeman's  pay.  They  had 
much  sickness  near  the  coast,  and  five  died  with  cholera. 
While  under  Shereef  and  Awathe,  they  cannot  be  blamed 
for  following  their  worthless  leaders ;  these  leaders  remained 
at  Ujiji,  and  Shereef  s  three  slaves  and  his  women  did  the 
same.  After  two  months'  delay  these  seven  Banian  slaves 
came  along  with  the  men  returning  past  Bambarre,  as  men- 
tioned above.  They  came  on  the  4th  of  February,  1871, 
having  left  Zanzibar  in  October,  1869. 

I  had  been  laid  up  at  Bambarre  by  irritable  eating  ulcers 
on  both  feet,  which  prevented  me  from  setting  a  foot  on  the 
ground  from  August,  1870,  to  the  end  of  the  year ;  a  piece 
of  malachite,  rubbed  down  with  water  on  a  stone,  was  the 


SUPPLIES  BROUGHT  BY  THE  SLAVES.  599 

only  remedy  that  had  any  effect ;  I  had  no  medicine  ;  some  in. 
a  box  had  been  unaccountably  detained  by  the  Governor  of 
Unyanyembe  since  1868,  though  I  sent  for  it  twice,  and 
delivered  calico  to  prepay  the  carriers.  I  have  been  unchar- 
itable enough  to  suspect  that  the  worthy  man  wishes  to  fall 
heir  to  my  two  guns  in  the  same  box.  Shereef  sent  by  the 
slaves  a  few  coarse  beads,  evidently  exchanged  for  my  beauti- 
ful and  dear  beads,  a  little  calico,  and,  in  great  mercy,  some 
of  my  coffee  and  sugar.  The  slaves  came  without  loads, 
except  my  tent,  which  Shereef  and  they  had  used  until  it 
was  quite  rotten,  and  so  full  of  holes  it  looked  as  if  riddled 
with  small  shot.  I  never  used  it  once.  They  had  been 
sixteen  months  on  the  way  from  Zanzibar  instead  of  three, 
and  now,  like  their  head  men,  refused  to  go  any  further. 
They  swore  so  positively  that  the  Consul  had  told  them  to 
force  me  back,  and  on  no  account  to  go  forward,  that  I  actu- 
ally looked  again  at  their  engagement  to  be  sure  my  eyes 
had  not  deceived  me. 

Fear  alone  made  them  consent  to  go,  but  had  I  not  been 
aided  by  Muhamad  Bogharib,  they  would  have  gained  their 
point  by  sheer  brazen-faced  falsehood.  I  might  then  have 
gone  back  and  deposed  Shereef  and  Awathe,  but  this  would 
have  required  five  or  six  months,  and  in  that  time,  or  perhaps 
less  time,  at  least,  I  had  good  reason  to  hope  the  exploration 
would  be  finished,  and  my  return  would  be  up  Albert  Lake 
and  Tanganyika,  instead  of  the  dreary  part  of  Manyema  and 
Guba  I  already  knew  perfectly.  The  desire  to  finish  the 
geographical  part  of  my  work  was,  and  is,  most  intense  every 
time  my  family  comes  into  my  mind.  I  also  hoped  that,  as 
usual,  ere  long  I  should  gain  influence  over  my  attendants ;; 
but  I  never  had  experience  with  Banian  Moslem  slaves 
before,  who  had  imbibed  little  of  the  Mohammedan  religion 
but  its  fulsome  pride,  arid  whose  previous  employment  had 
been  browbeating  Arab  debtors,  somewhat  like  the  lowest 
class  of  our  sheriff  officers. 

As  we  went  across  the  second  great  bend  of  the  Lualaba, 
they  showed  themselves  to  be  all  accomplished  cowards  in-, 
31 


600  LIVINGSTONE  SLANDERED. 

constant  dread  of  being  killed  and  eaten  by  Manyema.  Fail- 
ing to  induce  me  to  spend  all  the  goods  and  return,  they 
refused  to  go  beyond  a  point  far  down  the  Lnalaba,  where  I 
was  almost  in  sight  of  the  end  towards  which  I  strained. 
They  now  tried  to  stop  further  progress  by  falsehood,  and 
they  found  at  a  camp  of  Ujijian  and  mainland  Arabs,  a  num- 
ber of  willing  helpers  to  propagate  the  slander  "  that  I  wanted 
neither  ivory  nor  slaves,  but  a  canoe  to  kill  Manyema."  Can 
it  be  wondered  at  that  people  who  had  never  seen  strangers 
before,  or  even  heard  of  white  men,  believed  them  ? 

By  this  slander,  and  the  ceremony  of  mixing  blood  with 
the  head  men,  the  mainland  and  Ujijian  Arabs  secured  nine 
canoes,  while  I  could  not  purchase  one.  But  four  days  below 
this  part,  narrows  occur,  in  which  the  mighty  river  is  com- 
pressed by  rocks,  which  jut  in,  not  opposite  to  each  other,  but 
alternately ;  and  the  water,  rushing  round  the  promontories, 
forms  terrible  whirlpools,  which  overturned  one  of  the  canoes, 
and  so  terrified  the  whole  party  that  by  deceit  preceded  me, 
that  they  returned  without  ever  thinking  of  dragging  the 
canoes  past  the  difficulty.  This  I  should  have  done  to  gain 
the  confluence  of  the  Lomame,  some  fifty  miles  below,  and 
thence  ascend  through  Lake  Lincoln  to  the  ancient  fountains 
beyond  the  copper  mines  of  Katanga,  and  this  would  nearly 
finish  my  geographical  work.  But  it  was  so  probable  that 
the  dyke  which  forms  the  narrows  would  be  prolonged  across 
the  country  into  Lomame,  that  I  resolved  to  turn  towards  this 
great  river  considerably  above  the  narrows,  and  where  the 
distance  between  Lualaba  and  Lomame  is  about  eighty  miles. 

A  friend,  named  Dugumbe,  was  reported  to  be  coming 
from  Ujiji,  with  a  caravan  of  two  hundred  guns,  and  nine 
r.ndertraders  with  their  people.  The  Banian  slaves  refused 
duty  three  times,  and  the  sole  reason  they  alleged  for  their 
mutiny  was  fear  of  going  where  "  there  were  no  Moslems." 
The  loss  of  all  their  wages  was  a  matter  of  no  importance  to 
any  one  except  their  masters  at  Zanzibar.  As  an  Englishman, 
they  knew  I  would  not  beat  or  chain  them,  and  two  of  them 
frankly  avowed  that  all  they  needed  for  obedience  was  a  free 


ARRIVAL  OF  DUGUMBE'S  CARAVAN.          601 

man  to  thrash  them.  The  slave  traders  all  sympathized  with 
them,  for  they  hated  my  being  present  to  witness  their  atro- 
cities. The  sources  of  the  Nile  they  knew  to  be  a  sham ;  to 
reveal  their  slaving  was  my  true  object,  and  all  dread  being 
"written  against."  I  therefore  waited  three  months  for 
Dugumbe,  who  appeared  to  be  a  gentleman,  and  offered  four 
thousand  rupees,  or  £400,  for  ten  men  and  a  canoe  on  Lomame, 
and,  afterwards,  all  the  goods  I  believed  I  had  at  Ujiji,  to 
enable  me  to  finish  what  I  had  to  do  without  the  Banian 
slaves.  His  first  words  to  me  were, 

"  Why,  your  own  slaves  are  your  greatest  enemies.  I  hear 
everywhere  how  they  have  baffled  you." 

He  agreed  to  my  proposition,  but  required  a  few  days  to 
consult  his  associates. 

Two  days  afterwards,  or  on  the  13th  of  June,  a  massacre 
was  penetrated,  which  filled  me  with  such  intolerable  loathing 
that  1  resolved  to  yield  to  the  Banian  slaves,  return  to  Ujiji, 
get  men  from  the  coast,  and  try  to  finish  the  rest  of  my  work 
by  going  outside  the  area  of  Ujijian  bloodshed,  instead  of 
vainly  trying  from  its  interior  outwards. 

Dugumbe's  people  built  their  huts  on  the  right  bank  of 
Lualaba,  at  a  market  place  called  Nyanwe.  On  hearing  that 
the  head  slave  of  a  trader  at  Ujiji  had,  in  order  to  get  canoes 
cheap,  mixed  blood  with  the  headmen  of  the  Bagenya  on 
the  left  bank,  they  were  disgusted  with  his  assurance,  and 
resolved  to  punish  him,  and  make  an  impression  in  the 
country  in  favor  of  their  own  greatness,  by  an  assault  on  the 
market  people,  and  on  all  the  Bagenya  who  had  dared  to 
make  friendship  with  any  but  themselves.  Tagamoio,  the 
principal  undertrader  of  Dugumbe's  party,  was  the  perpe- 
trator. 

The  market  was  attended  every  fourth  day  by  between  two 
thousand  and  three  thousand  people.  It  was  held  on  a  long 
slope  of  land  which,  down  at  the  river,  ended  in  a  creek 
capable  of  containing  between  fifty  and  sixty  large  canoes. 
The  majority  of  the  market  people  were  women,  many  of 
them  very  pretty.  The  people  west  of  the  river  brought 


602  ASSASSINATION  BY  DUGUMBE'S  MEN. 

fish,  salt,  pepper,  oil,  grass-cloth,  iron,  fowls,  goats,  sheep, 
pigs,  in  great  numbers,  to  exchange  with  those  east  of  the 
river,  for  cassava  grain,  potatoes,  and  other  farinaceous  pro- 
ducts. They  have  a  strong  sense  of  natural  justice,  and  all 
unite  in  forcing  each  other  to  fair  dealing. 

At  first  my  presence  made  them  all  afraid,  but  wishing  to 
gain  their  confidence,  which  my  enemies  .tried  to  undermine 
or  prevent,  I  went  among  them  frequently,  and  when  they 
saw  no  harm  in  me  became  very  gracious  ;  the  bargaining  was 
the  finest  acting  I  ever  saw.  I  understood  but  few  of  the 
words  that  flew  off  the  glib  tongues  of  the  women,  but  their 
gestures  spoke  plainly.  I  took  sketches  of  the  fifteen  varie- 
ties of  fish  brought  in,  to  compare  them  with  those  of  the 
Nile  farther  down,  and  all  were  eager  to  tell  their  names. 

But  on  the  date  referred  to,  I  had  left  the  market  only  a 
minute  or  two,  when  three  men,  whom  I  had  seen  with  guns, 
and  felt  inclined  to  reprove  them  for  bringing  them  into  the 
market  place,  but  had  refrained  by  attributing  it  to  ignorance 
in  new  comers,  began  to  fire  into  the  dense  crowd  around 
them. 

Another  party,  down  at  the  canoes,  rained  their  balls  on 
the  panic-struck  multitude  that  rushed  into  these  vessels.  All 
threw  away  their  goods,  the  men  forgot  their  paddles,  the 
canoes  were  jambed  in  the  creek,  and  could  not  be  got  out 
quick  enough,  so  many  men  and  women  sprung  into  the 
water.  The  women  of  the  left  bank  are  expert  divers  for 
oysters,  and  a  long  line  of  heads  showed  a  crowd  striking  out 
for  an  island  a  mile  off;  to  gain  it,  they  had  to  turn  the  left 
shoulder  against  a  current  of  between  a  mile  and  a  half  to 
two  miles  an  hour.  Had  they  gone  diagonally  with  the  cur- 
rent, though  that  would  have  been  three  miles,  many  would 
have  gained  the  shore.  It  was  horrible  to  see  one  head  after 
another  disappear,  some  calmly,  others  throwing  their  arms 
high  up  towards  the  Great  Father  of  all,  and  going  down. 
Some  of  the  men  who  got  canoes  out  of  the  crowd,  paddled 
quick,  with  hands  and  arms,  to  help  their  friends ;  three  took 
people  in  till  they  all  sank  together.  One  man  had  clearly 


A  MOST  TERRIBLE  SCENE.  603 

lost  his  head,  for  he  paddled  a  canoe  which  would  have  held 
fifty  people,  straight  up  the  stream — nowhere.  The  Arabs 
estimated  the  loss  at  between  four  and  five  hundred  souls. 

Dugumbe  sent  out  some  of  his  men  in  one  of  thirty  canoes 
which  the  owners  in  their  fright  could  not  extricate,  to  save 
the  sinking.  One  lady  refused  to  be  taken  on  board,  because 
she  thought  that  she  was  to  be  made  a  slave ;  but  he  rescued 
twenty-one,  and  of  his  own  accord  sent  them  next  day  home. 
Many  escaped  and  came  to  me,  and  were  restored  to  their 
friends. 

When  the  firing  began  on  the  terror-stricken  crowd  at  the 
canoes,  Tagamoio's  band  began  their  assault  on  the  people 
on  the  west  of  the  river,  and  continued  the  fire  all  day.  I 
counted  seventeen  villages  in  flames,  and  next  day  six. 
Dugumbe's  power  over  the  underlings  is  limited,  but  he 
ordered  them  to  cease  shooting.  Those  in  the  market  were 
so  reckless  they  shot  two  of  their  own  number.  Tagamoio's 
crew  came  back  next  day,  in  canoes,  shouting  and  firing  off 
their  guns,  as  if  believing  they  were  worthy  of  renown. 

Next  day  about  twenty  headmen  fled  from  the  west  bank, 
and  came  to  my  house.  There  was  no  occasion  now  to  tell 
them  that  the  English  had  no  desire  for  human  blood.  They 
begged  hard  that  I  should  go  over  with  them,  and  settle  with 
them,  and  arrange  where  the  new  dwellings  of  each  should 
be.  I  was  so  ashamed  of  the  bloody  Moslem  company  in 
which  I  found  myself,  that  I  was  unable  to  look  at  the  Man- 
yema.  I  confessed  my  grief  and  shame,  and  was  entreated, 
if  I  must  go,  not  to  leave  them  now.  Dugumbe  spoke  kindly 
to  them,  and  would  protect  them  as  well  as  he  could  against 
his  own  people ;  but  when  I  went  to  Tagamoio  to  ask  back 
the  wives  an(J  daughters  of  some  of  the  head  men,  he  always 
ran  off  and  hid  himself. 

This  massacre  was  the  most  terrible  scene  I  ever  saw.  I 
cannot  describe  my  feelings,  and  am  thankful  that  I  did  not 
give  way  to  them,  but  by  Dugumbe's  advice,  avoided  a  bloody 
feud  with  men  who,  for  the  time,  seemed  turned  into  demons. 
The  whole  transaction  was  the  more  deplorable,  inasmuch  as 


604  THE  TRAMP  TO  UJIJI. 

we  have  always  heard  from  the  Manyema,  that  though  the 
men  of  the  districts  may  be  engaged  in  actual  hostilities,  the 
women  pass  from  one  market  place  to  another  with  their 
wares,  and  were  never  known  to  be  molested.  The  change 
has  come  only  with  these  alien  bloodhounds,  and  all  the  blood- 
shed has  taken  place  in  order  that  captives  might  be  seized 
where  it  could  be  done  without  danger,  and  in  order  that  the 
slaving  privileges  of  a  petty  sultan  should  produce  abundant 
fruit. 

Heartsore  and  greatly  depressed  in  spirits,  by  the  many 
instances  of  "  man's  inhumanity  to  man  "  I  had  unwillingly 
seen,  I  commenced  the  long,  weary  tramp  to  Ujiji,  M'ith  the 
blazing  sun  right  overhead.  The  mind  acted  on  the  body, 
and  it  is  no  over-statement  to  say  that  almost  every  step  of 
between  four  hundred  and  five  hundred  miles  was  in  pain.  I 
felt  as  if  dying  on  my  feet,  and  I  came  very  near  to  death  in 
a  more  summary  way.  It  is  within  the  area  of  bloodshed 
that  danger  alone  occurs.  I  could  not  induce  my  Moslem 
slaves  to  venture  outside  that  area  or  sphere.  They  knew 
better  than  I  did.  "  Was  Muhamad  not  the  greatest  of  all, 
and  their  prophet  ?" 

About  midway  back  to  Bambarre,  we  came  to  villages 
where  I  had  formerly  seen  the  young  men  compelled  to  carry 
a  trader's  ivory.  When  I  came  on  the  scene,  the  young  men 
had  laid  down  the  tusks  and  said, 

"  Now  we  have  helped  you  so  far  without  pay,  let  the  men 
of  other  villages  do  as  much." 

"  No,  no,  take  up  the  ivory ;"  and  take  it  up  they  did,  only 
to  go  a  little  way,  and  cast  it  into  the  dense  vegetation  on 
each  side  the  path  we  afterwards  knew  so  well.  When  the 
trader  reached  his  next  stage  he  sent  back  his  men  to  demand 
the  "  stolen  "  ivory,  and  when  the  elders  denied  the  theft  they 
were  fired  upon,  and  five  were  killed,  eleven  women  and  chil- 
dren captured,  and  also  twenty-five  goats.  The  remaining 
elders  then  talked  the  matter  over,  and  the  young  men  pointed 
out  the  ivory,  and  carried  it  twenty-two  miles  after  the  trader. 
He  chose  to  say  that  three  of  the  tusks  were  missing,  and 


MANYEMA  REVENGE-LIVINGSTONE  IN  DANGER.  605 

carried  away  all  the  souls  and  goats  lie  had  captured.  They 
now  turned  to  the  only  resource  they  knew,  and  when 
Dugumbe  passed,  waylaid  and  killed  one  of  his  people. 

In  our  return  we  passed  another  camp  of  Ujijian  traders, 
and  they  begged  me  to  allow  their  men  to  join  my  party. 
These  included  seventeen  men  of  Manyema,  who  had  volun- 
teered to  carry  ivory  to  Ujiji,  and  goods  back  again.  These 
were  the  very  first  of  the  Manyema  who  had  in  modern  times 
gone  fifty  miles  from  their  birth-places.  As  all  the  Arabs 
had  been  enjoined  by  Sayed  Majid,  the  late  Sultan,  to  show 
me  all  the  kindness  in  their  power,  I  could  not  decline  their 
request.  My  party  was  increased  to  eighty,  and  a  long  line 
of  men  bearing  elephants'  tusks  gave  us  all  the  appearance  of 
traders.  The  only  cloth  I  had  left  some  months  before  con- 
sisted of  two  red  blankets,  which  were  converted  into  a  glar- 
ing dress,  unbecoming  enough,  but  there  were  no  Europeans 
to  see  it. 

The  maltreated  men,  now  burning  for  revenge,  remembered 
the  dress,  and  very  naturally  tried  to  kill  the  man  who  had 
murdered  their  relations.  They  would  hold  no  parley.  We 
had  to  pass  through  five  hours  of  forest,  with  vegetation  so 
dense  that  by  stooping  down,  and  peering  towards  the  sun, 
we  could  at  times  only  see  a  shadow  moving,  and  a  slight 
rustle  in  the  rank  vegetation  was  a  spear  thrown  from  the 
shadow  of  an  infuriated  man.  Our  people  in  front  peered 
into  every  little  opening  in  the  dense  thicket,  before  they 
would  venture  past  it ;  this  detained  the  rear,  and  two  persons 
near  to  me  were  slain.  A  large  spear  lunged  past  close 
behind ;  another  missed  me  by  about  a  foot  in  front.  Coming 
to  a  part  of  the  forest  of  about  a  hundred  yards  cleared  for 
cultivation,  I  observed  that  fire  had  been  applied  to  one  of 
the  gigantic  trees,  made  still  higher  by  growing  on  an  ant-hill 
twenty  or  more  feet  high.  Hearing  the  crack  that  told  the 
fire  had  eaten  through,  I  felt  that  there  was  no  danger,  it 
looked  so  far  away,  till  it  appeared  coming  right  down  toward 
me.  I  ran  a  few  paces  back,  and  it  came  to  the  ground  only 
one  yard  off,  broke  in  several  lengths,  and  covered  me  with 
a  cloud  of  dust.  My  attendants  ran  back,  exclaiming, 


606  THREE  NARROW  ESCAPES. 

"  Peace,  peace !  you  will  finish  your  work  in  spite  of  all 
these  people,  and  in  spite  of  everything." 

I,  too,  took  it  as  an  omen  of  good,  that  I  had  three  narrow 
escapes  from  death  in  one  day. 

The  Manyema  are  expert  in  throwing  the  spear,  and  as  I 
had  a  glance  of  him  whose  spear  missed  by  less  than  an  inch 
behind,  and  he  was  not  ten  yards  off,  I  was  saved  clearly 
by  the  good  hand  of  the  Almighty  Preserver  of  men. 
I  can  say  this  devoutly  now,  but  in  running  the  terrible 
gauntlet  for  five  weaiy  hours,  among  furies  all  eager  to  sig- 
nalize themselves  by  slaying  one  they  sincerely  believed  to 
have  been  guilty  of  a  horrid  outrage,  no  elevated  sentiments 
entered  the  mind.  The  excitement  gave  way  to  overpower- 
ing weariness,  and  I  felt  as  I  suppose  soldiers  do  on  the  field 
of  battle — not  courageous,  but  perfectly  indifferent  whether 
I  were  killed  or  not. 

On  coming  to  the  cleared  plantations  belonging  to  the  nest 
group  of  villages,  all  lay  down  to  rest,  and  I  soon  saw  their 
headman  walking  unarmed  in  a  stately  manner  toward  us. 
He  had  heard  the  vain  firing  of  my  men  into  the  dense  vege- 
tation, and  came  to  inquire  the  cause.  When  he  had  consulted 
his  elders,  he  sent  an  offer  to  me  in  the  evening  to  collect  all 
his  people,  and  if  I  lent  him  my  people  who  had  guns,  he 
would  bring  me  ten  goats  instead  of  three  milch  ones  I  had 
lost.  I  again  explained  the  mistake  under  which  his  next 
neighbors  labored,  and  as  he  understood  the  whole  case,  he 
was  ready  to  admit  that  my  joining  in  his  ancient  feud  would 
only  make  matters  worse.  Indeed,  my  old  Highland  blood 
had  been  roused  by  the  wrongs  which  his  foes  had  suffered, 
and  all  through  I  could  not  help  sympathizing  with  them, 
though  I  was  the  especial  object  of  their  revenge. 
I  have,  etc., 

DAVID  LIVINGSTONE, 
Her  Majesty's  Consul,  Inner  Africa. 


CHAPTER  XXXVIII. 
STANLEY   IN   FRANCE. 

MR.  STANLEY,  en  route  home,  reached  Marseilles,  France, 
on  the  2-ith  of  July  1872,  having  sailed  from  Aden  the 
llth  of  July,  in  the  French  steamer  Meikong,  via  the  Suez 
Canal ;  he  was  accompanied  by  his  boy  Kalulu,  and  Mr.  W. 
Oswald  Livingstone,  a  son  of  Dr.  Livingstone,  who  had  gone 
to  Zanzibar  with  the  last  English  Search  Expedition. 

As  soon  as  the  Meikong  reached  the  dock — the  time 
being  two  o'clock  in  the  morning — Mr.  Stanley  sprang  ashore, 
and  made  a  circuit  of  nearly  all  the  hotels  of  the  city  in  search 
of  his  colleague,  Dr.  Hosmer,  European  manager  of  the  New 
York  Herald,  whom,  he  knew  to  be  somewhere  in  Mar- 
seilles. 

Searching  was  no  new  business  for  Mr.  Stanley,  and  he 
persevered  till  he  found  Dr.  Hosmer's  room,  into  which  he 
walked  without  ceremony,  saying,  by  way  of  introduction, 
"Mr.  Stanley." 

Warm  congratulations  followed  from  Dr.  Hosmer  and  rep- 
resentatives of  the  English  Press  who  were  present,  and  all 
thoughts  of  sleep  for  that  night  were  banished.  Over  a  bottle 
of  the  best  French  wine,  which  was  exhausted  in  less  time 
than  it  took  to  pump  the  traveler,  lie  was  briskly  interviewed 
by  his  admiring  journalistic  friends. 

Arrived  in  France,  Mr.  Stanley  found  himself  the  lion  of 
the  day,  absorbing  the  attention  of  the  public  and  over- 
whelmed with  compliments.  Scarcely  less  attention  was 
paid  to  his  boy  Kalulu,  a  robust  native  African  of  eleven 

607 


COS  STANLEY  IN  PARIS. 

years,  with  bright  eyes  and  ebony  but  intelligent,  counte- 
nance. The  dusky  youth  had  never  before  worn  a  suit  of 
clothes  and,  consequently,  was  not  entirely  at  his  ease,  but 
he  displayed  a  modest  assurance  and  gentlemanly  manner 
under  the  trying  circumstances.  Some  one  gave  him  a  red 
velvet  port-monnaie,  with  gilt  embroidery,  which  he  was  anx- 
ious to  show ;  but  as  he  was  not  accustomed  to  his  pockets, 
it  had  to  be  taken  out  with  the  help  of  a  friend. 

At  the  hotel  table  at  Lyons,  Kalulu,  for  the  first  time  in 
his  life,  used  a  fork,  and  he  did  it  in  a  manner  creditable  to  a  reg- 
ular "  diner-out."  He  used  his  bright  eyes  to  some  puqjose 
and  quickly  learned  among  the  Frenchman  to  do  as  French- 
men do. 

Mr.  Stanley's  journey  to  Paris,  was  a  constant  ovation.  He 
remained  at  the  gay  metropolis  about  one  week.  His  reception 
and  entertainment  there  are  graphically  described  by  a  Paris 
correspondent  of  the  Herald,  in  part  as  follows : — 

"  Henry  M.  Stanley  is  to-day  the  lion  of  the  great  city  of 
Paris.  Fresh  from  the  jungles  and  swamps  of  Central  Africa, 
that  strange  and  mysterious  country,  as  full  of  danger  and 
wild  and  fanciful  romance  as  any  fabled  land  of  antiquity  ; 
fresh  from  combats  with  its  savage  inhabitants,  its  lions  and 
tigers,  and  its  equally  savage  human  beasts ;  but,  above  all, 
fresh  from  the  society  of  the  far-famed  Dr.  Livingstone,  so 
oft  reported  dead,  so  oft  resuscitated  and  killed  over  again ; 
bringing  news  from  him,  messages  from  him,  letters  written 
by  his  own  hand — he  is  sought  for,  honored,  feted,  talked 
about  in  a  way  that  will  turn  his  head  if  he  has  a  head  capa- 
ble of  being  turned. 

"He  is  interrupted  by  newspaper  reporters,  importuned  by 
correspondents  of  the  pictorials  for  sketches  and  scenes  from 
his  travels,  and  generally  lionized  to  an  extent  that  has  aston- 
ished him  beyond  measure.  For  the  poor  man  did  not  know 
he  had  done  anything  extraordinary  until  he  got  out  of  the 
wilds  of  Africa  and  found  that  the  whole  civilized  world  was 
ringing  with  his  exploits. 

."  The  French  papers  are  full  of  gossip  concerning  him ; 


BREAKFAST  WITH  MINISTER  WASHBURNE.  609 

and,  as  usual,  when  talking  about  anything  or  anybody  not  of 
their  own  country,  make  all  sorts  of  funny  and  amusing  mis- 
takes. 

"  The  Soir,  for  instance,  announced  the  arrival  in  Paris  of 
Lord  Stanley,  son  of  the  great  Lord  Derby,  who,  at  the  insti- 
gation of  the  New  York  Herald,  nobly  undertook  to  find 
Dr.  Livingstone,  the  great  traveler. 

"Stanley  suddenly  finds  himself  a  great  man  ;  nor  the  carp- 
ing criticism  of  the  London  Spectator,  that  hopes  no  great 
good  from  the  expedition;  nor  the  absurd  doubts  of  the 
Standard,  will  prevent  all  honor  being  accorded  him  or  detract 
one  iota  from  his  meed  of  glory. 

"  And  then  to  have  found  Livingstone.  To  have  under- 
taken a  project  in  which  the  Royal  Geographical  Society  of 
London,  backed  by  the  ready  purses  of  the  whole  English 
nation,  had  failed ;  that  the  mighty  English  government  had 
pronounced  impossible ;  for  a  simple  newspaper  reporter  to 
carry  it  out  to  a  successful  conclusion,  while  the  government 
and  the  Royal  Geographical  Society  and  the  whole  English 
nation  were  talking  about  it,  is  it  not  worthy  of  all  praise  ? 
And  will  it  not  rank  with  Kane's  expedition  to  the  North 
Arctic  regions,  Bonaparte's  passage  of  the  Alps,  Hannibal's 
march  upon  Rome,  Sherman's  march  to  the  sea  ? 

"  The  day  after  his  arrival  he  was  invited  to  breakfast  by 
Mr.  "Washburne,  and  found  a  small  but  select  company  assem- 
bled to  meet  and  welcome  him,  among  whom  was  General 
Sherman.  The  General,  without  ever  suspecting  that  they 
had  met  before,  was  delighted  at  the  opportunity  thus  offered 
of  talking  to  a  man  who  had  been  the  leader  of  one  of  the 
most'  remarkable  search  expeditions  ever  undertaken,  and 
they  were  soon  engaged  in  an  animated  conversation  relating 
to  the  interior  of  Africa. 

"  It  was  interesting  and  curious  to  watch  the  old  hero  and 
the  young  in  conversation — the  one  with  his  sharp,  keen  eye 
and  quick,  appreciative  mind,  grasping  details,  foreseeing 
events,  and  often  eagerly  anticipating  the  story  and  hurrying 
on  to  the  point  where  the  whole  interest  is  concentrated  ;  the 


610          GENERAL  SHERMAN  AND  STANLEY. 

other,  with  his  dark,  resolute  eye,  somehow  reminding  one  of 
General  Sheridan,  and  his  tawny  complexion  and  quiet  voice, 
calmly  telling  his  story,  both  leaning  over  the  map  on  which 
Stanley  had  traced  all  his  sinuous  wanderings. 

u  '  It  is  a  great  thing,'  said  Mr.  Washburne.  '  I  only  know 
of  one  other  great  expedition  brought  to  so  successful  a  ter- 
mination.' 

"  i  What  is  that  ?'  asked  Sherman. 

"  '  That  is  Sherman's  March  to  the  Sea,'  replied  Mr.  "Wash- 
burne. 

"  '  That  is  nothing  to  this,'  said  Sherman  '  it  was  easy  in 
comparison  to  this  march  to  the  centre  of  Africa  and  back.' 

"  '  It  is  your  modesty  makes  you  say  so,  General,'  remarked 
Stanley.  '  By  the  way,  do  you  remember  ever  meeting  me 
before  ?' 

" '  No,'  replied  Sherman. 

"  Whereupon  Stanley  commenced  and  repeated  a  speech  of 
some  minutes  in  length,  a  speech  evidently  meant  for  the  red 
men,  for  it  was  full  of  high-flown  metaphors  and  contained 
references  to  '  fire-water,'  '  the  Great  Spirit,'  '  our  brother,' 
the  '  pale  face,'  '  our  Father  in  Washington '  and  a  variety  of 
other  subjects  in  which  the  Indian  is  supposed  to  be  particu- 
larly interested. 

" '  Why,  that's  a  speech  I  made  some  years  ago  to  the 
Sioux  Indians  while  out  on  the  Plains.  Were  you  there  ?' 

"  '  I  was  there,'  replied  Stanley,  '  reporting  it  for  the  Her- 
ald, and,  to  tell  you  the  truth,  I  have  had  occasion  to  repeat 
your  speech,  almost  verbatim,  more  than  once  to  the  negroes 
of  Central  Africa.' 

"  'Well,'  said  Sherman,'  I  would  never  have  recognized  you, 
and  certainly  never  expected  to  see  in  that  Herald  reporter 
the  future  discoverer  of  Dr.  Livingstone.'  " 

A  grand  banquet  in  honor  of  Mr.  Stanley  was  also  given 
by  American  residents  of  Paris.  There  were  nearly  one  hun- 
dred gentlemen  present,  the  most  prominent  of  whom  were 
His  Excellency  Mr.  Washburne,  Mr.  W..  Vesey,  United  States' 
Consul  at  Nice ;  General  Love  of  Indiana ;  General  Kiddoo, 


GRAND  BANQUET. 

Mr.  Young,  late  proprietor  of  the  Albion;  Mr.  "William 
Bowles,  Mr.  John  Russell  Young,  Rev.  Dr.  Hitchcock,  Col- 
onel Moore,  "W.  J.  Florence  the  commedian ;  Mr.  Home,  etc. 
After  grace  had  been  said  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Hitchcock,  who 
made  some  feeling  allusions  to  the  trials  through  which  their 
guest  had  passed,  the  Chairman,  Mr.  Washburne,  rose  and 
addressed  the  company,  in  part,  as  follows : — 

"  FELLOW  COUNTRYMEN  AND  FRIENDS — Some  three  years  ago 
our  distinguished  guest,  Mr.  Henry  M.  Stanley,  who  was  then, 
as  now,  the  correspondent  of  the  New  York  Herald,  was  in 
Europe.  He  was  then,  as  now,  a  young  man,  who  had  been 
schooled  in  the  best  fields  of  newspaper  enterprise,  not  only 
in  our  own  country,  but  in  another  hemisphere.  He  had 
been  on  the  press  in  New  York  city,  and  in  the  West,  in 
Chicago  and  St.  Louis,  and  most  likely  in  Galena.  He  had 
been  a  war  correspondent  at  home,  and  had  been  with  Grant 
and  Sherman,  and  Halleck  and  Terry.  He  had  also  been  a 
war  correspondent  abroad,  and  had  followed  the  Abyssinian 
expedition,  and  won  fresh  laurels  by  his  activity,  enterprise 
and  intelligence. 

"  The  managing  editor  of  the  Herald,  Mr.  James  Gordon 
Bennett,  Jr.,  was  in  Paris  at  that  time.  A  great  English  trav- 
eler and  explorer  had  disappeared  in  the  wilds  of  Africa,  and 
the  curiosity  of  mankind  was  excited  to  know  what  fate  had 
befallen  him.  Nothing  definite  could  be  found  out  in  regard 
to  him.  All  efforts  failed.  With  the  enterprising  genius 
which  belongs  to  an  American  journalist.  Mr.  Bennett  con- 
ceived the  idea  of  sending,  at  his  own  expense,  Mr.  Stanley, 
single-handed  and  alone,  to  find  Dr.  Livingstone,  the  long- 
lost  traveler.  Our  guest  was  sent  for  to  come  hastily  to  Paris 
from  Spain,  and  he  met  Mr.  Bennett  in  his  room  at  his  hotel 
after  he  had  retired  for  the  night.  A  conversation  of  five 
minutes  completed  the  business,  and  the  journalist  summed 
up  his  instructions  to  his  correspondent  about  this  way : — 

"'You  shall  have  an  unlimited  credit;  find  Livingstone.' 

"  That  brief  and  sententious  and  effective  speech  reminds  us 
of  what  took  place  between  Grant  and  Sheridan  in  the  Val- 


612  MINISTER  WASHBUENE'S  SPEECH. 

ley  of  the  Slienandoali.  After  Sheridan  had  explained  his 
plans,  his  chief  only  answered,  '  Go  in  Sheridan  ;'  and  Sheri- 
dan did  '  go  in,'  and  Stanley  went  '  in.'  It  also  brings  to 
mind  the  incident  that  took  place  between  our  great  Ameri- 
can traveler  of  his  time,  John  Ledyard,  and  some  eminent 
English  geographer  of  that  period.  He  had  heard  of  Led- 
yard, who  was  then  in  London,  and  sent  for  him  to  come  and 
talk  about  some  great  exploration,  and  concluding  that  Led- 
yard was  the  man  he  wanted,  asked  him  when  he  would  be 
ready  to  start.  'To-morrow  morning'  was  the  emphatic  reply 
of  the  great  traveler. 

"  Our  friend  here  loses  no  time  in  entering  upon  and  com- 
pleting his  work,  and  when  accomplished  he  does  not  ha,ve  to 
make  the  same  return  that  the  Mississippi  sheriff  made  to  a 
writ  against  a  debtor  who  had  run  oif  into  a  swamp — non 
comatibus  in  swampo.  (Great  laughter.)  We  soon  find  him 
at  Zanzibar,  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  organizing  his  expedition. 
From  there  he  crosses  over  to  Bagamoyo  and  then  heads  for 
Unyanyembe,  a  little  pleasure  trip  of  some  three  months,  I 
believe.  This  long  march  had  been  terrible,  and  had  brought 
with  it  sickness,  discouragement  and  demoralization.  But  it 
was  always  '  On  Stanley,  on !'  and  with  unsubdued  courage. 
It  could  truly  be  said  of  our  guest  at  this  time — 

'  No  danger  daunted,  and  no  labors  tired.1 

"  And  I  think  it  was  from  here,  sir,  you  bid  the  civilized 
world  farewell,  until,  as  you  expressed  it,  you  should  see  the 
'  old  man  face  to  face  or  bring  back  his  bones.'  And,  as  I 
understand,  it  was  from  here  that  your  great  troubles  began. 
You  found  yourself  in  a  deadly  climate,  struggling  in  jungles 
and  in  fastnesses,  amid  wild  and  hostile  savages  at  war  with 
each  other ;  you  were  scorched  by  an  African  sun,  bringing 
burning  fever  and  wild  delirium,  but  on  you  went.  You  cut 
through  forests  and  you  passed  over  mountains ;  you  fought 
battles  and  you  won  victories ;  you  gave  fight  to  the  great 
Mirambo,  the  chief  of  the  Wamogas — (laughter) — who  con- 
cluded that '  discretion  was  the  better  part  of  valor '  and 


MINISTER  WASHBUKNE'S  SPEECH.  613 

retired,  realizing  there,  no  doubt,  in  the  centre  of  Africa,  the 
full  force  of  the  couplet : — • 

"  He  who  fights  nnd  runs  away, 
Will  live  to  fight  another  day." 

"  And  then  you  appear  to  have  commenced  a  great  flanking 
operation  in  getting  outside  of  Mirambo's  dominions,  and  I 
think  you  must  have  gathered  some  experience  in  that  busi- 
ness during  Grant's  great  campaign  of  the  Wilderness. 
And  your  experiences  at  home  must  have  been  useful  to  you 
in  other  respects,  for  I  was  greatly  amused  at  breakfast  the 
other  day,  to  hear  you  tell  General  Sherman  that  you  had 
occasion  to  make  the  same  speech  to  a  wild  African  chief 
that  you  had  heard  him  make  in  camp  at  Fort  Laramie  to  a 
chief  of  the  Arapahoes. 

"  We  follow  you  with  breathless  interest,  and  become  excited 
as  you  approach  Ujiji,  on  the  banks  of  the  Tanganyika,  and 
we  participate  in  the  feeling  of  hope  that  you  had,  that  you 
might  there  hear  something  of  the  object  of  your  long  and 
grievous  search.  We  see  your  brave  little  party  enter  the 
village,  sick,  ragged,  worn  down,  emaciated,  drums  beating 
and  flags  flying.  But  the  flag  still  highest  in  air  was  the 
starry  banner  of  our  own  republic — (long  continued  cheering) 
— that  emblem  of  our  nation's  glory  and  grandeur,  respected 
and  honored  everywhere  by  Christian  civilization,  and  saluted 
with  reverence  even  in  the  wilds  of  Africa. 

"  Our  interest  intensities  when,  we  find  that  there  is  a 
white  man  in  Ujiji,  and  we  participate  in  your  joy  when  you 
step  out  from  among  your  Arabs  and  address  this  white  man 
— '  Dr.  Livingstone,  I  believe  ?'  And  we  throw  up  our  hats 
when  we  see  a  smile  light  up  the  features  of  the  brave  old 
man,  and  when  he  answers,  '  That  is  my  name,  sir.'  That 
was  an  introduction  worth  having,  and  which  must  become 
historical. 

"We  congratulate  you,  Mr.  Stanley,  on  the  glorious  success 
that  has  crowned  your  efforts  and  your  labors.  We  pay  a 
respectful  homage  to  your  courage,  your  energy,  your  fidelity 
and  your  perseverance  in  overcoming  all  obstacles  in  your 


614  MINISTER  WASHBURXE'S  TOAST. 

path.  "We  honor  the  enterprise  and  liberality  of  Mr.  Bennett, 
who  conceived  and  carried  out  with  his  own  means  this  won- 
derful expedition.  "We  thank  you  for  the  intelligence  you 
bring  us  of  Dr.  Livingstone,  and  we  rejoice  that  you  met  him 
face  to  face,  and  that  he  still  lives  to  pursue  his  explorations 
still  further  and  give  to  the  world  the  result  of  his  explora- 
tions. 

"  But,  gentleman,  I  will  detain  you  no  longer,  for  I  know 
you  wait  anxiously  to  give  your  approbation  to  a  sentiment 
which  I  now  propose  to  offer : — '  Henry  M.  Stanley,  the 
correspondent  of  the  New  York  Herald,  the  man  who  dis- 
covered the  discoverer.'  We  honor  him  for  his  courage,  his 
energy  and  his  fidelity.  We  rejoice  in  the  triumphant  suc- 
cess of  his  mission,  which  has  gained  him  imperishable 
renown  and  conferred  additional  credit  on  the  American 
name.  We  cordially  welcome  him  on  his  return,  and  '  may 
he  live  long  and  prosper.' " 

Mr.  Stanley  responded  to  the  toast  in  a  speech  in  which 
he  narrated  the  incidents  of  his  expedition,  from  the  period 
at  which  Mr.  Bennett  gave  him  his  first  instructions  down 
to  the  discovery  of  Dr.  Livingstone  in  the  wilds  of  Africa. 
He  had  explored  the  great,  mysterious  Kile,  the  temple's  that 
dominated  its  shores,  and  the  grand  old  granite  and  syenite 
statues  that  guarded  the  sacred  precincts  up  as  far  as  the  fanes 
of  holy  Philoe,  the  gloomy  aisles  of  the  great  Luxor,  and  the 
gad,  tuneful  Memnon,  tracing  the  history  of  Egypt  from  the 
glorious  days  of  Sesostris  down  to  the  deep  degradation  of 
Mameluke  times,  and  its  uprise  again  to  the  dawn  of  a  fresh 
regeneration  and  the  knowledge  that  civilization  means 
power.  He  then  proceeded : — 

"Do  you  know  what  Zanzibar  is  ?  I  am  sure  I  did  not.  I 
had  not  the  slightest  idea  what  sort  of  place  it  was.  It  is  a 
gein  of  the  ocean.  You  find  there  one  of  the  most  attractive 
of  islands,  laved  by  the  most  sparkling  of  seas,  warmed  by 
rich  sunlight,  and  verduous  beyond  imagination.  Do  you 
know  what  Africa  is — that  portion  of  Africa  to  which  our 
attention  is  now  drawn?  Its  coasts,  even  while  you  look  on 


STANLEY'S  SPEECH  AT  PARIS.  615 

it  as  you  approach  its  shores,  fascinate  the  imagination.  I 
remember  even  now  the  ardent  hopes  that  sprang  up  as  I 
gazed  upon  it.  How  grand  appeared  those  groves  of  grace- 
ful-topped palms,  how  mysterious  the  bold  headlands  to  the 
north,  how  grandly  heaved  the  land  swells  toward  the  west, 
what  solemn  thoughts  crept  over  my  mind,  at  the  fact  that 
those  undulations,  those  forests,  those  groves,  must  be  crossed 
by  me ! — for  who  knew  what  might  happen,  who  knew  what 
fate  awaited  my  little  army  and  myself  ?  However,  as  all 
augured  well,  why  should  our  spirits  be  dashed  when  heaven 
and  earth  seemed  to  smile  a  welcome  ?  But  I  dread  the  rid- 
icule that  perhaps  would  be  excited  if  I  told  you  all  that  was 
iu  my  mind  when  I  set  foot  upon  the  sandy  beach,  and  was 
greeted  by  many  sonorous  "  Yambos  "  from  the  grim-looking 
people  who  were  thus  saluting  me.  I  had  no  boats  to  burn, 
for  those  which  bore  me  were  not  mine  ;  but  there  were  res- 
olutions to  form  as  well  as  sadness  to  banish,  and  I  assure  you 
the  spirit  was  not  wanting. 

#  #  #  *  *  #  * 

"  Let  me  speak  of  Livingstone,  the  enduring  man,  the  brave 
and  resolute  traveler,  the  practical  Christian  gentleman. 
What  a  wearj",  despondent  look  his  face  must  have  worn 
when  he  arrived  at  Ujiji !  He  had  much  of  that  when  I  saw 
him ;  but  what  a  pleasure  it  was  to  me  to  see  him  brighten 
up  little  by  little,  to  feel  almost  a  childish  interest,  so  intense 
was  it,  as  I  enacted  the  part  of  a  newspaper  in  what  I  told 
him.  It  was  medicine  to  him, -this  long  series  of  startling 
events  that  1  had  the  pleasure  of  relating !  It  was  life  to  him, 
this  fresh  white  face  from  the  United  States,  which  came  to 
tell  him  that  America  and  Europe  had  not  forgotten  him. 
Can  any  of  you  imagine  yourselves  communing  with  your 
own  thoughts  on  the  weary  march  through  those  silent  for- 
ests, with  their  appalling,  intense  silence,  his  utter  loneliness 
warning  him,  as  he  saw  the  bleached  skulls  of  those  who  had 
gone  before,  of  his  own  littleness  and  his  possible  fate  ?  I 
could  not,  indeed,  had  I  not  seen  these  things. 

"  I  remember  well,  when  in  just  such  a  scene  as  I  have  pic- 
32 


616  STANLEY'S  SPEECH  AT  PARIS. 

tured,  I  thought  of  this  and  addressed  him  on  the  subject. 
He  said  if  he  died  he  would  like  to  be  buried  in  just  such  a 
place,  and  with  only  the  dead  leaves  of  the  forest  over  him. 
No  grave  would  he  like  better;  often  and  often  had  he 
thought  so. 

"  Gentlemen,  it  was  no  exaggerated  account  I  wished  to 
bring  with  me  from  the  heart  of  Africa.  I  vowed  I  would 
bring  nothing  but  the  plain,  unvarnished  truth,  for  this  was 
a  case  where  there  was  no  necessity  for  exaggeration.  I 
wished  to  bring  home  facts;  you  see  yourselves  how  they 
have  stirred  the  hearts  of  nations.  Permit  me,  to  thank  you 
for  your  kind  impulse,  and  for  the  interest  you  have  mani- 
fested in  myself  accept  my  deep  and  sincere  gratitude." 

Among  other  things  said  on  this  occasion  was  the  follow- 
ing, from  a  speech  by  Mr.  William  Young  of  England : — 

"  It  is  to  the  future,  sir,  that  I  turn  my  regards,  as  I  think 
over  what  there  remains  for  the  enterprising  genius  of  a 
Bennett  to  map  out,  and  the  persevering  energy  of  a  Stanley 
to  accomplish.  And  there  seem  to  me  to  be  three  great  dis- 
coveries still  to  be  undertaken  for  the  benefit  of  mankind 
and  the  further  glory  of  the  New  York  Herald. 

"  Can  you  not,  in  the  first  place,  fancy  Mr.  James  Gordon 
Bennett  summoning  by  telegraph  Mr.  Stanley  to  his  pres- 
ence, and  asking  him  in  the  coolest  way  in  the  world  whether 
he  believes  in  the  existence  of  a  veritable  North  Pole  ?  The 
reply  is  *  Yes '  of  course.  f  Can  you  discover  it  ? '  is  the 
rejoinder;  to  which  Mr.  Stanley  answers  with  his  habitual 
modesty :  '  I  don't  know,  sir ;  but  I'll  try.'  '  All  right,'  says 
Mr.  Bennett  ;  'go  ahead ;  you  shall  have  unlimited  credit ; 
find  the  Pole ,  and  hoist  the  Stars  and  Stripes  upon  it ! ' 
I  leave  you  to  judge,  gentlemen,  whether  the  thing  will  be 
done. 

"  Again,  can  you  not  fancy  Mr.  Bennett,  sitting  quietly  on 
the  deck  of  his  yacht,  and  once  more  summoning  Mr.  Stanley 
to  his  side  ?  The  dialogue  between  them  is,  as  usual,  short  and 
practical.  '  Mr.  Stanley,  do  you  believe  in  the  great  sea  ser- 
pent ? '  'I  do,  sir.'  '  Then  go  and  find  him.  You  can 


NEW  ENTERPRISES  FOR  STANLEY.  617 

have  unlimited  credit.  Twist  a  cable  about  his  jaws,  tow 
him  in  from  sea,  and  beach  him.  upon  the  spit  of  Sandy 
Hook.  '  Gentlemen,  I  leave  you  to  determine  whether  this 
feat  will  not  also  be  accomplished. 

"  The  third  and  most  important  of  the  discoveries  yet  to  be 
made  by  this  combination  of  rare  enterprise  and  dauntless 
perseverance,  carries  me  back  to  the  days  when  I,  too,  was  in 
the  press,  and  used,  with  many  others,  to  shoot  puny  arrows 
against  the  tough  and  impenetrable  shield  of  the  redoubtable 
New  York  journal ;  for  Mr.  Bennett  in  this  crowning  in- 
stance is  not  indebted  to  his  own  desire  for  the  diffusion  of 
useful  knowledge,  but  to  the  marvelous  forethought  and 
sagacity  of  his  late  father.  You  must,  many  of  you,  often 
have  read  the  wierd  problem  propounded  in  his  columns,  but 
remaining  to  be  solved  by  a  Stanley.  I  give  it  you  in  three 
words,  as  I  resume  my  seat : — < Who  struck  Billy  Patterson  ?' " 


CHAPTER  XXXIX. 
STANLEY  IN  ENGLAND. 

JOHN  BULL  is  more  phlegmatic  in  his  temperament. than 
his  French  neighbors,  and  Mr.  Stanley's  arrival  at  London, 
August  2d,  did  not  excite  the  enthusiasm  which  had  greeted 
him  at  Paris.  Henry  Rawlinson,  President  of  the  Royal 
Geographical  Society,  wrote  him  a  letter  of  thanks  for  finding 
Dr.  Livingstone,  but  a  public  reception  by  that  Society  was 
deferred,  as  many  of  its  members  were  in  the  country. 

Mr.  Stanley  also  received  from  Miss  Agnes  Livingstone,  a 
letter  of  thanks  for  the  safe  delivery  of  her  father's  diary  and 
letters  from  him.  This  diary  had  been  in  great  danger  of 
being  lost  in  crossing  a  river,  and  its  preservation  is  said  to  be 
due  to  Mr.  Stanley's  prompt  decision  in  the  ready  handling 
of  a  revolver. 

Queen  Yictoria  received  Mr.  Stanley  most  graciously  at 
Dunrobin  Castle,  and  thanked  him  personally  for  what  he  had 
done.  She  also  sent  to  him  a  magnificent  snuff-box,  accompa- 
mied  by  a  letter  of  thanks  and  congratulation  signed  by  Lord 
Granville.  This  snuff-box  is  of  gold,  exquisitely  adorned  with 
brilliants  and  deep  blue  enamel  (the  royal  color)  on  the  lid, 
•which  is  oval  in  shape.  In  the  center  is  the  monogram  Y.  R., 
worked  in  small  brilliants  on  a  ground  of  deep  blue  enamel 
and  surmounted  by  the  crown  in  diamonds,  the  crimson  vel- 
vet being  represented  by  a  ruby.  Around  this  center-piece 

618 


STANLEY  IN  LONDON.  619 

is  a  circle  of  larger  brilliants:     The  interior  of  the  lid  bears 
the  following  inscription : — 

Presented  by 
HER  MAJESTY,  QUEEN  VICTORIA 

to 

HENRY  M.  STANLEY,  ESQ., 
in  recognition  of  the  prudence  and  zeal 

displayed  by  him 
in  opening  communication  •with 

DOCTOR  LIVINGSTONE, 

and  thus  relieving  the  general  anxiety 

felt  in  regard  to  the  fate  of 

that  distinguished  traveler. 

LONDON,  August  17,  1872. 

Lady  Franklin,  in  cordial  sympathy  with  all  American  ex- 
plorers for  lost  Englishmen,  whether  in  Arctic  regions  or  In- 
ner Africa,  invited  Stanley  to  dine  with  her.  He  was  also 
the  guest  of  Lord  Granville  and  the  Duchess  of  Agyle.  Not- 
withstanding all  these  attentions  shown  to  'him  by  the  Queen 
and  others,  and  the  proofs  which  Stanley  furnished  of  the 
truth  of  his  story,  there  was  still  a  lingering  skepticism  in  the 
public  mind,  which  occasionally  found  vent  in  the  journals, 
and  served  to  throw  a  chill  over  his  sojourn  in  England. 

Mr.  Stanley  was  invited  to  attend  the  meeting  of  the  Brit- 
ish Association  for  the  Advancement  of  Science,  which  as- 
sembled at  Brighton  in  August.  This  was  his  first  public  ap- 
pearance, and  here,  on  the  15th  of  August,  he  delivered  his 
first  address  in  England,  before  the  Geographical  Section  of 
the  Association. 

The  audience  numbered  about  fifteen  hundred,  and  filled 
the  hall.  A  row  of  velvet  chairs  in  front  of  the  platform  was 
occupied  by  the  late  Emperor  and  Empress  of  France,  with 
the  Prince  Imperial  and  suite.  The  leading  members  of  the 
geographical  section  took  their  seats  upon  the  platform.  The 
audience  repeatedly  expressed  their  vociferous  welcome,  and 
the  address  was  a  signal  success. 

The  Chairman,  Mr.  Francis  Galton,  introduced  Mr.  Stan- 
ley, and  made  a  short  speech,  a  part  of  which  is  given  below, 
as  it  contains  considerable  information  in  a  condensed 
space : — 


620  STANLEY  AT  BRIGHTON. 

"  It  is  about  six  years  ago  that  a  rumor  reached  England  of 
Dr.  Livingstone's  death — a  rumor  which  you  recollect  was 
doubted  by  our  own  President  (Sir  Roderick  Murchison), 
and  which  was  afterwards  wholly  disproved  by  the  expedition 
sent  out  specially  from  England,  under  Captain  Young,  for 
the  purpose  of  ascertaining  the  truth  of  it ;  and,  again,  by 
letters  received  from  Dr.  Livingstone  himself,  dated  in  1869, 
only  three  years  ago.  We  had  previously  received  letters 
from  him — viz.,  in  1867  and  1868.  They  requested  that  sup- 
plies should  be  sent,  and  await  him  at  Ujiji. 

"  The  route  from  the  coast  was  first  opened  up  by  Captain 
Burton  and  Captain  Speke,  and  they  found  it  was  a  perfectly 
open  caravan  road,  along  which  there  was  no  difficulty  what- 
ever other  than  is  common  in  caravan  roads  in  uncivilized 
countries — no  difficulty  whatever  in  transmitting  provisions 
and  supplies.  Supplies  were  actually  sent  by  that  route.  I 
have  a  list  of  four  parties  which  went  with  supplies — viz.,  in 
1867,  1868,  1869  and  1870,  and  the  supplies  gent  from  the 
coast  in  1869  actually  reached  Livingstone,  not  only  at  Un- 
yanyembe,  but  in  Ujiji.  But  in  that  year  a  difficult  state  of 
circumstances  arose.  Cholera  broke  out,  and  it  was  impossi- 
ble for  caravans  to  pass  through.  Most  of  the  men  died,  and 
supplies  were  stopped  at  Unyanyembe.  Afterwards  war 
broke  out,  and  the  route  which  could  be  traveled  in  ordinary 
times  became  closed,  or  almost  closed. 

"  It  was  then  a  matter  of  great  consideration  with  the  Royal 
Geographical  Society  what  steps  they  should  take ;  but  at 
that  time  we  heard  that  Mr.  Stanley,  actuated  by  honorable 
motives  and  despatched  by  the  New  York  Herald,  had  act- 
ually started  in  search  of  Dr.  Livingstone.  Supplies  and  let- 
ters were  therefore  placed  in  his  hands  to  be  delivered  to  Dr. 
Livingstone.  The  Royal  Geographical  Society,  not  wishing 
in  any  way  to  compete  with  an  existing  expedition,  took  no 
other  steps.  Afterwards  a  rumor  reached  England,  happily 
unfounded,  that  Mr.  Stanley  had  got  to  Unyanyembe  and 
that  his  expedition  had  been  broken  up ;  that  in  consequence 
of  the  wars  of  the  Arabs  it  had  succumbed,  and  that  he  was 


STANLEY'S  SPEECH  AT  BRIGHTON.  621 

himself  ill  of  fever  and  incapable  of  pushing  on  in  his  mis- 
sion. 

"Although  we  knew  little  reliance  was  to  be  placed  in  such 
rumors,  we  resolved  to  send  out  that  expedition  of  which  you 
have  heard  so  much  and  which  you  know  has  returned.  It 
happened  that  before  we  sent  out  the  expedition  Mr.  Stanley 
had  actually  shaken  hands  with  Dr.  Livingstone  at  Ujiji. 
When  the  expedition  reached  the  coast  of  Africa  and  was 
ready  to  start,  they  met  Mr.  Stanley's  advance  return  party 
and  in  a  few  days  afterwards  Mr.  Stanley  himself.  Now  I 
have  explained  to  the  best  of  my  ability  the  simple  facts  of 
the  case,  and  I  now  call  upon  Mr.  Stanley  to  give  us  his  ac- 
count of  his  most  adventurous  expedition." 

Mr.  Stanley  then  stepped  forward  on  the  platform  and  was 
again  loudly  cheered.  He  said : — 

"  Ladies  and  gentlemen  :  I  consider  myself  in  the  light  of  a 
Troubadour  to-day,  bringing  you  a  tale  of  an  old  man  tramp- 
ing onward  to  discover  the  source  of  the  Nile — to  tell  you 
that  I  found  that  old  man  at  Ujiji  after  his  travels,  and 
to  tell  you  of  his  woes  and  sufferings,  and  how  he  bore  his 
misfortunes  with  the  Christian  patience  and  endurance  of  a 
hero. 

"Before  I  started  for  Central  Africa  I  knew  nothing  of  that 
great,  broad  tract  in  the  center  of  the  African  Continent.  My 
duty  led  me  to  fields  of  journalism — my  duty  carried  me  far 
away  from  Central  Africa.  If  I  had  ever  dreamed  that  I 
should  visit  the  heart  of  Africa  I  should  have  smiled  at  my- 
self." 

******* 

Mr.  Stanley  then  related  the  difficulty  he  had  in  learning 
the  names  of  the  currency  among  the  natives  in  trading,  and 
how  he  asked  every  Arab  he  met  whether  a  white  man  had 
been  seen  in  the  country,  and  the  conflicting  information  he 
received  on  the  subject.  One  said  he  saw  one  at  Ujiji,  and 
he  was  very  fat  and  fond  of  rice.  Another  said  a  white  man 
had  been  wounded  when  he  was  engaged  in  hunting.  "When 
I  got  to  Unyanyembe,  the  great  central  depot  of  the  Arabs, 


622  STANLEY'S  SPEECH  AT  BRIGHTON. 

I  asked  the  Governor  where  the.  fat  man  was.  He  said  he 
lived  at  Ujiji  somewhere,  and  was  a  great  eater  of  butter.  I 
thought  that  was  good  news.  I  said,  '  Do  you  think  he  is 
alive  ?'  '  Ah !  great  master,  I  don't  say  he  is  alive,  because 
there  has  been  war  there.'  He  said  he  had  divined  on  the 
Koran,  and  found  Livingstone  was  dead.  Now  my  next  point 
was  Ujiji,  from  Unyanyembe.  I  had  never  been  in  Africa 
before.  There  were  no  railroads,  no  telegraphs,  no  balloons, 
and  there  was  a  war  raging  in  the  country.  First  I  must  cut 
my  way  through  this  war  country.  We  went  on  for  two  days, 
but  on  the  third  we  made  a  most  disgraceful  retreat.  All  my 
men  deserted  me.  I  made  my  way  to  the  camp  of  the  Arabs, 
and  I  said,  '  There  is  a  war  going  on,  and  it  is  between  the  Arabs 
and  the  natives.  I  will  find  my  own  way  to  Dr.  Livingstone.' 
One  of  them  said,  '  Oh,  great  master,  you  must  not  do  that. 
I  must  write  to  the  Sultan  and  say  you  are  obstinate,  that  you 
are  going  to  get  killed.'  '  All  right,'  said  I :  '  There  are 
jungles.  If  one  way  is  closed  we  can  try  another.  I  want  to 
go  to  Ujiji.' 

"  So  on  the  23d  of  September  last  year  I  started,  and  went 
directly  south  until  I  came  to  the  frontier  of  the  adjoining 
country,  and  when  I  came  to  the  corner  of  it  I  found  there 
was  another  war  there.  In  fact  I  was  going  straight  into  it. 
I  had  to  go  up  north  now,  and  came  to  the  salt  pans  of  which 
Burton  speaks.  In  crossing  the  river  I  had  such  little  inci- 
dents as  a  crocodile  eating  one  of  my  donkeys.  I  came  next 
to  a  land  notorious  for  its  robbers.  I  did  not  know  this,  and 
one  night  I  called  a  council  of  my  principal  men.  I  told 
them  I  could  not  stand  this  tribute  taking.  They  asked  :— 

"  '"What  will  you  do,  master? '  I  said  '  The  thing  is  to  go 
into  the  jungle  and  make  direct  west.'  At  the  dead  of  the 
night  we  went  into  the  bamboo  jungle,  and  on  the  fourth 
day  we  stood  on  the  last  hill.  We  had  crossed  the  last 
stream,  we  had  traversed  the  last  plain,  we  had  climbed  the  last 
mountain,  and  Ujiji  lay  embowered  in  the  palms  beneath  us. 

"  Now,  it  is  customary  in  Africa  to  make  your  presence 
known  by  shouting  and  shooting  gnns.  We  fired  our  guns  as 


LIVINGSTONE  FOUND.  623 

only  exuberant  heroes  can  do.  I  said,  '  I  suppose  I  shall  not 
find  the  white  man  here.  We  must  go  on  to  the  Congo  and 
away  to  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  but  we  must  find  this  white  man.' 

"  So  we  were  firing  away,  shouting,  blowing  horns, 
beating  drums.  All  the  people  came  out,  and  the  great 
Arabs  from  Muscat  came  out.  «. 

"  Hearing  we  were  from  Zanzibar,  and  were  friendly  and 
brought  news  of  their  relatives,  they  welcomed  us.  And 
while  we  were  traveling  down  that  steep  hill,  down  to  this 
little  town,  I  heard  a  voice  saying : — 

"  '  Good  morning,  sir.' 

"  I  turned  and  said  sharply,  '"Who  the  mischief  are  you  ?  '• 

"  *  I  am  the  servant  of  Dr.  Livingstone  sir.' 

"  I  said,  '  What !     Is  Dr.  Livingstone  here  ? ' 

"  '  Yes,  he  is  here.     I  saw  him  just  now.' 

"  I  said,  '  Do  you  mean  to  say  Dr.  Livingstone  is  here  ? ' 

"  <  Sure.' 

"  '  Go  and  tell  him  I  am  coming.'  Do  you  think  it  possi- 
ble for  me  to  describe  my  emotions  as  I  walked  down  those 
few  hundred  yards  ? 

"  This  man,  David  Livingstone,  that  I  believed  to  be  a 
myth,  was  in  front  of  me  a  few  yards.  I  confess  to  you  that 
were  it  not  for  certain  feelings  of  pride,  I  should  have  turned 
over  a  somersault.  But  I  was  ineffably  happy.  I  had  found 
Livingstone ;  my  work  is  ended.  It  is  only  a  march  home 
quick ;  carry  the  news  to  the  first  telegraph  station,  and  so 
give  the  word  to  the  world. 

"  A  great  many  people  gathered  around  us.  My  attention 
was  directed  to  where  a  group  of  Arabs  were  standing,  and 
in  the  centre  of  this  group,  a  pale,  care-worn,  gray-bearded 
old  man,  dressed  in  a  red  shirt,  with  a  crimson  joho,  with  a 
gold  band  round  his  cap,  an  old  pair  of  tweed  pants,  his 
shoes  looking  the  worse  for  wear.  Who  is  this  old  man  ?  I 
ask  myself.  Is  it  Livingstone  ?  Yes,  it  is.  No,  it  is  not. 
Yes  it  is. 

"  '  Dr.  Livingstone,  I  presume  ? ' 

« <  Yes.' 


TALKS  WITH  LIVINGSTONE. 

"  Now  it  would  never  have  done  in  the  presence  of  the 
grave  Arabs,  who  stood  there  stroking  their  beards,  for  two 
white  men  to  kick  up  their  heels.  No,  the  Arabs  must  be 
attended  to.  They  would  carry  the  story  that  we  were 
children — fools.  So  we  walked  side  by  side  into  the  veran- 
dah. There  we  sat — the  man,  the  myth,  and  I.  This  was 
the  man  ;  and  what  a  woful  tale  of  calamities  that  wrinkled 
face,  those  gray  hairs  in  his  beard,  those  silver  lines  in  his 
head — what  a  woful  tale  they  told ! 

"  Now  we  begin  to  talk.  I  don't  know  about  what.  I 
know  we  talk,  and  by-and-by  come  plenty  of  presents  from 
the  Arabs.  "We  eat  and  talk,  and  whether  Livingstone  eats 
most  or  I  eat  most  I  cannot  tell.  I  tell  him  many  things. 
He  asks : — 

" '  Do  you  know  such  and  such  a  one ' 

"'Yes.' 

"'How  is  he?' 

"'Dead." 

" '  Oh,  oh ! ' 

" '  And  such  a  one  ? J 

•' '  Alive  and  well.' 

"  '  Thanks  be  to  God.' 

"  '  And  what  are  they  all  doing  in  Europe  now  ? ' 

" '  "Well,  the  French  are  kicking  up  a  fuss ;  and  the  Prus- 
sians are  around  Paris,  and  the  world  is  turned  topsy-turvy.' 

"  It  is  all  a  matter  of  wonder  for  Livingstone.  He  soon 
turned  in  to  read  his  letters.  And  who  shall  stand  between 
this  man  and  the  outer  world  ?  I  should  like  to  say  a  great 
deal  more  to  you,  but  I  want  you  to  find  out  one  thing,  and 
that  is — I  want  you  to  find  out  what  this  man  Livingstone 
was — what  was  his  character — that  this  man  can  stand  the 
fatigues,  brave  the  dangers  and  sufferings  of  Central  Africa. 
What  is  there  in  him  which  makes  him  go  on  while  others 
turn  back  ?  What  is  it  in  him  who  has  discovered  so  many 
lakes  and  rivers  and  streams,  passed  over  so  many  virgin 
countries  and  through  so  many  forests,  that  makes  him  say, 
'  It  is  not  enough  ? '  This  is  what  I  want  to  know.  I  asked 


STANLEY  AT  BRIGHTON.  625 

him  if  he  had  been  to  Lake  Tanganyika  yet.  There  is  a 
great  deal  said  about  that.  He  said  the  central  line  of  drain- 
age absorbed  all  his  means.  I  proposed  to  him  we  should 
go  there  with  my  men  and  material,  and  make  a  pleasure 
party  of  it.  He  said : — 

"  '  I  am  your  man.' 

"  I  said,  '  They  think  we  should  go  there.' 

" ( Yery  well ;  it  shall  be  done  to-morrow.' 

"  And  to-morrow  we  went.  Now,  it  is  about  what  Living- 
stone and  myself  discovered  at  the  northern  end  of  Lake 
Tanganyika,  that  the  Royal  Geographical  Society  has  requested 
me  to  read  you  a  formal  paper  on  the  subject." 

"GENTLEMEN  OF  THE  ROYAL  GEOGRAPHICAL  SOCIETY — I 
have  been  invited  to  deliver  an  address  here  before  you,  or 
rather  to  read  a  paper  on  the  Tanganyika.  Responding  to 
that  invitation  I  came  here ;  but  before  entering  upon  that 
subject,  which  seems  to  interest  this  scientific  assemblage,  per- 
mit me  to  say  something  of  your  'distinguished  medalist' 
and  associate,  Dr.  David  Livingstone.  I  found  him  in  the 
manner  already  described,  the  story  of  which,  in  brief,  is 
familiar  to  everybody.  He  was  but  little  improved  in  health, 
and  but  a  little  better  than  the  *  ruckle  of  bones '  he  came  to 
IT jiji.  With  the  story  of  his  sufferings,  his  perils,  and  many 
narrow  escapes,  related,  as  they  were,  by  himself,  the  man 
who  had  endured  all  these  and  still  lived,  I  sympathized. 
What  he  suffered  far  eclipses  that  which  Ulysses  suffered,  and 
Livingstone  needs  but  a  narrator  like  Homer  to  make  his 
name  as  immortal  as  the  Greek  hero's ;  and,  to  make  another 
comparison,  I  can  liken  his  detractors  in  England  and  Germany 
only  to  the  suitors,  who  took  advantage  of  Ulysses'  absence  to 
slander  him  and  torment  his  poor  wife.  The  man  lives  not 
who  is  more  single  minded  than  Livingstone — who  has  worked 
harder,  been  more  persevering  in  so  good  a  cause — and  the  man 
lives  not  who  deserves  a  higher  reward. 

"  Before  going  to  Central  Africa  in  search  of  Livingstone, 
I  believed  almost  everything  I  heard  or  read  about  him. 
Never  was  a  man  more  gullible  than  I.  I  believed  it  possi- 


STANLEY  AT  BRIGHTON. 

ble  that  the  facetious  gentleman's  story,  who  said  that  Liv- 
ingstone had  married  an  African  princess,  might  be  correct. 
I  believed,  or  was  nearly  believing,  the  gentleman  who  told 
me  personally,  that  Livingstone  was  a  narrow-minded,  crabbed 
soul,  with  whom  no  man  could  travel  in  peace ;  that  Living- 
stone kept  no  journal  nor  notes,  and  that  if  he  died  his  dis- 
coveries would  surely  be  lost  to  the  world.  I  believed  then 
with  the  gentleman,  that  Livingstone  ought  to  come  home 
and  let  a  younger  man — that  same  gentleman,  for  instance — • 
go  and  finish  the  work  that  Livingstone  had  begun.  Also, 
inconsistent  as  it  may  seem — but  I  warn  you  again  that  I  was 
exceedingly  gullible — I  believed  that  this  man  Livingstone 
was  aided  in  a  most  energetic  manner ;  that  he  had  his  letters 
from  his  children  and  friends  sent  to  him  regularly,  and  that 
stores  were  sent  to  him  monthly  and  quarterly — in  fact,  that 
he  was  quite  comfortably  established  and  settled  at  Ujiji.  I 
believed  also,  that  every  man,  woman  and  child  in  England 
admired  and  loved  him  exceedingly. 

"I  was  deeply  impressed  with  these  views  of  things,  when 
James  Gordon  Bennett  Jr.,  of  the  New  York  Herald,  told 
ine  in  a  few  words  to  go  after  Livingstone,  to  find  him,  and 
bring  what  news  I  could  of  him.  I  simply  replied  with  a  few 
monosyllables  in  the  affirmative,  though  I  thought  it  might 
prove  a  very  hard  task.  "What  if  Livingstone  refused  to  see 
me  or  hear  me  ?  '  No  matter,'  said  I  to  myself,  in  my  inno- 
cence, '  I  shall  be  successful  if  I  only  see  him.'  You,  your- 
selves, gentlemen,  know  how  I  would  stand  to-day  if  I  had 
come  back  from  the  Tanganyika  without  a  word  from  him, 
since  but  few  believed  me  when  Livingstone's  own  letters 
appeared. 

"But  how  fallacious  were  all  my  beliefs  !  Now  that  I  know 
the  uprightness  and  virtue  of  the  man,  I  wonder  how  it  was 
possible  that  I  could  believe  that  Dr.  David  Livingstone  was 
married  to  an  African  princess  and  had  settled  down.  Now 
that  I  know  the  strict  morality  of  his  nature,  the  God-fearing 
heart  of  the  man,  I  feel  ashamed  that  I  entertained  such 
thoughts  of  him.  Now  that  I  know  Livingstone's  excessive 


STANLEY  AT  BRIGHTON.  627 

amiability,  his  mild  temper,  the  love  he  entertains  for  his  fel- 
low-men, white  or  black,  his  pure  Christian  character,  I  won- 
der why  this  man  was  maligned.  I  wonder  now  whether 
Livingstone  is  the  same  man  whom  a  former  fellow  traveler 
of  his  called  a  tyrant  and  an  unbearable  companion.  I  won- 
der now  whether  this  is  the  traveler  whom  I  believed  to  be 
decrepit  and  too  old  to  follow  up  his  discoveries,  whom  a 
younger  man  ought  to  displace — now  that  I  have  become 
acquainted  with  his  enthusiasm,  his  iron  constitution,  his 
sturdy  frame,  his  courage  and  endurance. 

"  I  have  been  made  aware,  through  a  newspaper  published 
in  London,  called  the  Standard,  that  there  are  hopes  that 
some  '  confusion  will  be  cleared  up  when  the  British  Associa- 
tion meets  and  Mr.  Stanley's  story  is  subject  to  the  sifting 
and  cross-examination  of  the  experts  in  African  discovery.' 
What  confusion  people  may  have  fallen  into  through  some 
story  I  have  told  I  cannot  at  present  imagine,  but  probably 
after  the  reading  of  this  paper  the  '  experts '  will  rise  and 
cross-question.  If  it  lies  in  my  power  to  explain  away  this 
'  confusion '  I  shall  be  most  happy  to  do  so. 

"  There  are  also  some  such  questions  as  the  following  pro- 
pounded : — 'Why  did  not  Dr.  Livingstone  return  with  Mr. 
Stanley  ?'  'Why  was  the  great  traveler  so  uncommunicative 
to  all  but  the  New  York  Herald?  '  Why  did  not  the  relief 
expedition  go  on  and  relieve  him  ?'  'What  has  Dr.  Kirk  been 
doing  all  this  time  at  Zanzibar  ?'  Here  are  four  questions 
which  admit  of  very  easy  solution. 

"  To  the  first  I  would  answer,  because  he  did  not  want  to 
come  with  Mr.  Stanley  ;  and  may  I  ask,  was  Mr.  Stanley  Dr. 
Livingstone's  keeper,  that  as  soon  as  he  had  found  him  he 
should  box  him  up,  with  the  superscription,'This  side  up  with 
care?' '  To  the  second  I  would  answer,  that  Dr.  Livingstone 

'  O 

was  not  aware  that  there  was  another  correspondent  present 
at  the  interview  when  he  imparted  his  information  to  the  cor- 
respondent of  the  New  York  Herald.  To  the  third  question, 
'Why  did  not  the  relief  expedition  go  on  and  relieve  him?' 
I  would  answer  that  Livingstone  was  already  relieved,  and 


628  STANLEY  AT  BRIGHTON. 

needed  no  stores.  To  the  fourth  question,  ( What  has  Dr. 
Kirk  been  doing  all  this  time  at  Zanzibar  ?' I  would  reply 
that  Dr.  Kirk's  relations  in  England  may  probably  know  what 
he  has  been  doing  better  than  I  do. 

"  England  is  the  first  and  foremost  country  in  African  dis- 
coveries. Her  sons  are  known  to  have  plunged  through  jun- 
gles, traveled  over  plains,  mountains  and  valleys,  to  have 
marched  through  the  most  awful  wildernesses  to  resolve  the 
many  problems  which  have  arisen  from  time  to  time  concern- 
ing Central  Africa.  The  noblest  heroes  of  geography  have 
been  of  that  land.  She  reckons  Bruce,  Clapperton,  Lander, 
Richie,  Mungo  Park,  Laing,  Baikie,  Speke,  Burton,  Grant, 
Baker  and  Livingstone  as  her  sons.  Many  of  these  have  fal- 
len, stricken  to  death  by  the  poisonous  malaria  of  the  lands 
through  which  they  traveled.  Who  has  recorded  their  last 
words,  their  last  sighs  ?  Who  has  related  the  agonies  they 
must  have  suffered — their  sufferings  while  they  lived  ?  What 
monuments  mark  their  lonely  resting  places  ?  Where  is  he 
that  can  point  the  exact  localities  where  they  died  ?  Look  at 
that  skeleton  of  a  continent !  We  can  only  say  they  died  in 
that  unknown  centre  of  Africa — that  great,  broad  blank 
between  the  eastern  and  western  coast. 

"Before  I  brought  with  me  producible  proofs  in  the  shape 
of  letters,  his  journal,  his  broken  chronometers,  his  useless 
watches,  his  box  of  curiosities,  it  was  believed  by  all,  with  the 
exception  of  a  few,  that  the  most  glorious  name  among  the 
geographical  heroes — the  most  glorious  name  among  fearless 
missionaries — had  been  added  to  the  martyrology  list ;  it  was 
believed  that  the  illustrious  Livingstone  had  at  last  succumbed 
to  the  many  fatal  influences  that  are  ever  at  work  in  that  awful 
heart  of  Africa. 

"It  was  in  my  search  for  this  illustrious  explorer,  which 
now  has  ended  so  happily — far  more  successfully  than  I  could 
ever  have  anticipated — that  I  came  to  the  shores  of  this  great 
lake,  the  Tanganyika.  At  a  little  port  or  bunder,  called 
Ujiji,  my  efforts  were  crowned  with  success.  If  you  will 
glance  at  the  southeastern  shore  of  the  Tanganyika,  you  will 


STANLEY  AT  BRIGHTON.  629 

find  it  a  blank ;  but  I  must  now  be  permitted  to  fill  it  with 
rivers  and  streams,  and  marshes  and  mountain  ranges.  I 
must  people  it  with  powerful  tribes,  with  "Wafipa,  "Wakawendi, 
"Wakonongo  and  Wanyamwezi ;  more  to  the  south  with  fero- 
cious Watuta  and  predatory  Warori,  and  to  the  north  with 
Mana,  Msengi,  Wangondo  and  Waluriba. 

"  Before  coming  to  the  Malagarazi  I  had  to  pass  through 
Southern  Wavinza.  Crossing  that  river,  and  after  a  day's 
march  north,  I  entered  Ubha,  a  broad  plain  country,  extend- 
ing from  Uvinza  north  to  Urundi  and  the  lands  inhabited  by 
the  Northern  Watuta.  Three  long  marches  through  Ubha 
brought  me  to  the  beautiful  country  of  Ukaranga,  and  a 
steady  tramp  of  twenty  miles  further  westward  brought  me 
to  the  divisional  line  between  Ukaranga  and  Ujiji,  the  Liu- 
che  Valley,  or  Ruche,  as  Burton  has  it.  Five  miles  further 
westward  brought  us  to  the  summit  of  a  smooth,  hilly  ridge, 
and  the  town  of  Ujiji  embowered  in  the  palms  lay  at  our  feet, 
and  beyond  was  the  silver  lake,  the  Tanganyika,  and  beyond 
the  broad  belt  of  water  towered  the  darkly  purple  mountains 
of  Ugoma  and  Ukaramba.  To  very  many  here,  perhaps 
African  names  have  no  interest,  but  to  those  who  have  trav- 
eled in  Africa  each  name  brings  a  recollection — each  word  has 
a  distinct  meaning ;  sometimes  the  recollections  are  pleasing, 
sometimes  bitter. 

"  If  I  mention  Ujiji,  that  little  port  on  the  Tanganyika 
almost  hidden  by  palm  groves,  with  the  restless,  plangent 
surf  rolling  over  the  sandy  beach,  is  recalled  as  vividly  to 
my  mind  as  if  I  yet  stood  on  that  hill-top  looking  adown 
upon  it,  and  where  a  few  minutes  later  I  met  the  illustrious 
Livingstone.  If  I  think  of  Unyanyembe,  instantly  I  recol- 
lect the  fretful,  peevish  and  impatient  life  I  led  there  until  I 
summoned  courage,  collected  my  men  and  marched  to  the 
south  to  see  Livingstone  or  to  die.  If  I  think  of  Ukonougo, 
recollections  of  our  rapid  marches,  of  famine,  of  hot  suns,  of 
surprises  from  enemies,  of  mutiny  among  my  men,  of  feeding 
upon  wild  fruit,  of  a  desperate  rush  into  the  jungle.  If  I 
think  of  Ukawendi,  I  see  a  glorious  land  of  lovely  valleys  and 


630  GRANT  THE  EXPLORER  ON  LIVINGSTONE. 

green  mountains  and  forests  of  tall  trees,  the  march  under 
their  twilight  shades,  and  the  exuberant  chant  of  my  people 
as  we  gayly  tramped  towards  the  north.  If  I  think  of 
Southern  Uvinza,  I  see  mountains  of  hematite  of  iron — I  see 
enormous  masses  of  disintegrated  rock,  great  chasms,  deep 
ravines,  a  blackness  and  desolation  as  of  death.  If  I  think  of 
the  Malagarazi,  I  can  see  the  river,  with  its  fatal  reptiles  and 
snorting  hippopotami ;  I  can  see  the  salt  plains  stretching  on 
either  side.  And  if  I  think  of  Ubha,  recollections  of  the 
many  trials  we  underwent ;  of  the  turbulent,  contumacious 
crowds,  the  stealthy  march  at  midnight  through  their  villa- 
ges ;  the  preparations  for  battle,  the  alarm  and  the  happy 
escape,  culminating  in  the  happy  meeting  with  Livingstone. 

"  There,  in  that  open  square,  surrounded  by  hundreds  of 
curious  natives,  stands  the  worn-out,  pale-faced,  gray -bearded 
and  bent  form  of  my  great  companion.  There  stand  the 
sullen -eyed  Arabs,  in  their  snowy  dresses,  girdled,  stroking 
their  long  beards,  wondering  why  I  came.  There  stand  the 
Wajiji,  children  of  the  Tanganyika,  side  by  side  with  the 
Wanyamwezi,  with  the  fierce^  and  turbulent  Warundi,  with 
Livingstone  and  myself  in  the  centre.  Yes,  I  note  it  all, 
with  the  sunlight  falling  softly  over  the  picturesque  scene. 

"  I  hear  the  low  murmur  of  the  surf,  the  rustling  of  the 
palm  brandies.  I  note  the  hush  that  has  crept  over  the 
multitudes  as  we  two  clasp  hands.  To  me,  at  least,  these 
strange  names  have  an  enduring  significance  and  a  romance 
blended  with  the  sounds." 

Mr.  Stanley  then  read  a  paper  on  Lake  Tanganyika,  after 
which  some  questions  regarding  the  lake  were  asked  by  the 
President,  and  answered  promptly  by  Mr.  Stanley.  A  paper 
from  Col.  Grant,  the  African  Explorer  was  then  read,  in 
which  he  criticised  portions  of  Dr.  Livingstone's  letter  to 
Mr.  Bennett,  and  designated  as  an  extravagant  idea  which 
could  not  be  for  a  moment  entertained,  Livingstone's  suppo- 
sition that  the  southern  waters  which  he  had  been  exploring 
were  connected  with  the  Nile.  Col.  Grant's  paper  closed  as 
follows: — 


REMARKS  OF  AN  AFRICAN  HUNTER.  631 

"  The  narrative  of  Dr.  Livingstone  contains  some  curious 
incidents  which  are  quite  novel  to  me,  for  on  our  journey 
from  Zanzibar  to  Egypt  when  traveling  on  the  water  shed  of 
the  Nile,  we  never  saw  any  trace  of  cannibals,  any  signs  of 
gorilla,  neither  did  we  find  that  any  race  of  natives  kept  pigs 
in  the  domesticated  state.  They  eat  one  species  of  wild  pig, 
but  no  race  of  natives  in  this  valley  of  the  Nile  was  ever 
seen  to  keep  pigs  tame.  Oysters  must  be  a  misprint.  Tak- 
ing into  consideration  these  remarkable  differences  from  the 
country  we  traversed,  I  cannot  but  think  that  Dr.  Living- 
stone, having  no  chronometer  to  fix  the  longitude^  got  further 
to  the  west  than  he  supposes,  and  that  he  had  been  among 
races  similar  in  most  respects  to  those  on  the  west  coast  of 
Africa,  visited  by  Mons.  du  Chaillu.  In  conclusion,  this 
fresh  discovery  of  lakes  and  rivers  by  Livingstone  defines  a 
distinct  new  basis,  and  leaves  clearer  than  ever  the  position 
given  by  Speke  to  the  Nile  in  1863," 

Remarks  were  then  made  by  several  gentlemen  of  the 
Geographical  Society.  Consul  Petherick  said  he  was  the 
first  Englishman  who  ever  navigated  the  Bahr-il-Gazal.  He 
had  fully  satisfied  himself  that  its  waters  flowed  to  the  south- 
ward. It  was  certain  that  Dr.  Livingstone  must  have  made 
a  mistake  in  believing  that  the  Eastern  Nile  waters  flowed 
through  the  Bahr-il-Gazal.  The  water  that  Dr.  Livingstone 
was  pursuing  northward  must  find  some  other  outlet — wherev 
he  did  not  profess  to  say. 

Mr.  Oswell,  the  African  hunter  and  companion  of  Living- 
stone in  former  travels  said,  "  He  would  not  go  into  the  geo- 
graphical question,  but  he  availed  himself  of  the  opportunity 
of  expressing  his  gratitude  to  Dr.  Livingstone.  Dr.  Living-- 
stone had  sustained  a  great  loss  in  the  death  of  Mrs.  Living- 
stone, who  was  the  best  helpmate  the  traveler  ever  had. 
During  all  his  experience  of  Mrs.  Livingstone  there  was  only 
one  instance  in  which  he  knew  of  her  breaking  down,  and 
then  it  was  not  through  fear  for  herself,  but  through  fear  for 
her  husband.  It  was  usually  said  that  Livingstone — their 
dear  old  Livingstone — was  the  real  true  African  lion;  the- 
33 


632  DISCUSSION  WITH  THE  GEOGRAPHERS. 

young  gentleman  on  the  platform  might  be  considered  the 
real  true  young  African  lion." 

Dr.  Beke,  of  Abyssinia,  recognized  the  great  value  of  the 
discoveries  Dr.  Livingstone  had  made  ;  but  he  was  convinced 
that  he  had  not  discovered  the  source  of  the  Nile.  Evidence 
of  this  was  to  be  found  in  what  he  himself  reported  as  to  the 
level  of  the  different  waters  he  had  met  with,  etc.  The 
waters  Dr.  Livingstone  referred  to  must  either  go  into  the 
"Wellin,  or  turn  round  and  flow  into  the  Congo,  or  some 
great  lake.  But  joined  to  the  Nile  they  could  not  be. 

Sir  Henry  Rawlinson,  President  of  the  Geographical  Soci- 
ety, said  he  had  strong  misgivings  as  to  whether  Livingstone 
had  been  in  the  Nile  basin ,  he  might  have  been  upon  the 
Congo,  but  more  probably  the  great  river  system  discovered 
formed  somewhere  a  great  central  lake ;  there  was  plenty  of 
room  for  one  in  Central  Africa,  and  he  trusted  Livingstone 
would  discover  it. 

In  replying  to  these  doubters,  Mr.  Stanley  said  that  he  did 
not  see  any  discrepancy  between  Dr.  Livingstone's  and  Cap- 
tain Speke's  statements ;  and  then  continued,  in  part,  as  fol- 
lows:— 

"  Captain  Grant  says  that  Dr.  Livingstone  has  made  a  mis- 
take about  the  river  Lualabu  ;  but  what  I  want  to  know  is  how 
a  geographer  resident  in  England  can  say  there  is  no  such 
river  when  Dr.  Livingstone  has  seen  it  ?  Dr.  Beke  says  that 
Dr.  Livingstone  has  not  discovered  the  sources  of  the  Nile. 
Dr.  Livingstone  himself  says  that  he  thinks  he  has  discovered 
them ;  but  there  is  this  difference  between  them — that  Dr. 
Livingstone  is  encamped  by  the  shores  of  Lualabu,  and  thinks 
that  he  has  discovered  the  sources  of  the  Nile,  and  gives  rea- 
sons for  his  belief.  He  says  that  he  has  traced  this  chain  of 
lakes  and  rivers  from  11°  South  to  4°  South ;  and  Dr.  Beke,  who 
has  never  been  writhin  2,000  miles  of  the  Lualabu,  says  that 
he  has  not  discovered  the  sources  of  the  Nile.  This  was  not 
a  question  of  theory,  but  of  fact.  Theory  won't  settle  it ;  it 
must  be  settled  by  men  who,  like  Dr.  Livingstone,  have  fought 
and  labored  for  thirty-five  years  at  the  task.  I  think  that  Dr. 


DISCUSSION  WITH  THE  GEOGRAPHERS.  633 

Livingstone  has  discovered  the  sources  of  the  Nile,  and  that 
he  has  good  ground  for  his  belief;  and  I  am  quite  sure  that 
when  he  returns  two  years  hence  and  says,  '  I  have  discover- 
ed the  sources  of  the  Nile,'  there  will  not  be  one  recalcitrant 
voice  saying,  (  You  have  not.' 

"  If  the  Nile  has  not  been  discovered,  what,  let  me  ask,  has 
been  discovered  ?  "What  is  that  great  and  mighty  river  the 
Lualabu?  "Where  does  it  go  to  ?  Does  it  go  into  a  lake,  as 
Sir  Henry  Hawlinson  supposes  ?  What !  the  Lualabu  flow 
into  a  lake ! — into  a  marsh ! — into  a  swamp !  Why,  you  might 
just  as  well  say  that  the  Mississippi  flows  into  a  swamp ! 
( Laughter  and  cheers.)  All  the  rivers  flowing  into  the  Tan- 
ganyika are  nothing  whatever  compared  to  the  Lualabu,  which 
at  some  places  is  from  three  to  five  miles  broad.  If  the  Lua- 
labu enters  a  swamp,  where  does  all  the  water  go  ?  No  na- 
tive ever  told  Livingstone  that  the  Lualabu  went  west.  On 
the  contrary,  they  all  said  that  it  ran  north,  and  yet  a  German 
geographer  comes  forward  and  says  he  saw  a  little  river.  He 
may  have  done  so,  but  that  does  not  prevent  the  Lualabu  from 
being  a  big  river.  I  never  yet  heard  of  an  Englishman  who 
had  discovered  anything,  but  a  Herr  of  some  sort  came  for- 
ward and  said  he  had  been  there  before. 

"Do  you  mean  to  tell  me  that  Dr.  Livingstone  has  spent 
six  years  searching  for  the  sources  of  the  Congo  ?  Not  a  bit 
of  it.  What  he  wants  is  to  find  out  the  sources  of  the  Nile. 
The  sources  of  the  Congo  may  go  where  they  like  so  far  as 
he  is  concerned.  I  have  not  the  slightest  doubt  that  he  will 
yet  come  home  with  the  true  story  of  the  sources  of  the  Nile. 
These  gentlemen  have  not  asked  a  single  question  which  I 
have  not  asked  of  Dr.  Livingstone.  I  asked  him,  if  he  had 
discovered  the  source  of  the  Nile  at  2,000  feet  above  the  sea, 
how  he  could  account  for  the  discrepancy  as  to  the  degrees  of 
latitude  which  have  been  mentioned  ?  l  Well,'  he  said,  l  that 
is  what  baulks  me.' 

"  But  still  he  adhered  to  his  opinion,  and  you  must  recol- 
lect that  he  has  arrived  at  it  with  hesitation  and  humility,  af- 
ter six  years'  travel  and  hard  work ;  also  that  his  thermom- 


634:  MR.  STANLEY  RETIRES. 

eters,  barometers  and  other  instruments,  which  were  new 
when  he  started,  may  now  be  in  error.  Discrepancies  that 
may  now  seem  to  exist  may  hereafter  be  cleared  up.  Theory 
and  practice  must  fight ;  which  will  win,  do  you  think  ?  I 
think  fact — I  think  practice.  I  think,  if  a  man  goes  there  and 
says,  c  I  have  seen  the  source  of  the  river,'  the  man  sitting  in 
his  easy  chair  or  lying  in  bed  cannot  dispute  the  fact  on  any 
ground  of  theory. 

"  The  best  way  is  to  go  there  and  disprove  Dr.  Livingstone. 
You  must  go  there  and  disprove  what  Dr.  Livingstone  has 
said  for  yourself,  or  else  listen  to  and  believe  those  who  have 
been  there." 

Mr.  Hall  said  that  Dr.  Livingstone  had  arbitrarily  fixed  the 
source  of  the  l^ile  at  between  ten  and  twelve  degrees  of  south 
latitude,  and  he  wished  to  ask  Mr.  Stanley  how  he  reconciled 
that  with  the  facts  he  himself,  as  well  as  Dr.  Livingstone  and 
other  gentlemen,  had  stated  as  to  the  large  river  system  in 
that  part  of  Central  Africa. 

Mr,  Stanley  confessed  he  did  not  see  any  discrepancy.  Dr. 
Livingstone  had  simply  followed  the  river  to  its  source,  and 
what  could  he  do  more  ?  . 

Mr.  Hall  persevered  with  his  question,  amid  some  impa- 
tience on  the  part  of  the  audience,  and  Mr.  Stanley  humor- 
ously responded  and  retired  from  the  contest. 

The  chairman  of  the  meeting  then  made  some  closing  re- 
marks. He  said  they  had  all  seen  and  admired  Mr.  Stanley's 
passionate  appeal  on  behalf  of  his  absent  friend,  Dr.  Living- 
stone, but  they  must  all  be  careful  not  to  fall  into  the  error 
of  thinking  that  because  a  man  had  not  been  in  a  country  he 
therefore  knew  nothing  about  it.  (  Hear,  hear.)  The  gentle- 
men who  had  spoken  were  one  and  all  very  competent  to  give 
an  opinion  on  the  subject,  which  really  was  one  as  much  a 
matter  of  theory  as  anything  could  be.  It  was  no  doubt  a 
fault  of  travelers  that  they  were  too  little  aware  of  the  amount 
of  knowledge  which  had  been  derived  from  other  sources  of 
the  matters  of  which  they  were  inclined  to  speak.  If  he  might 
bo  allowed  to  express  an  opinion  he  should  concur  with  Dr. 


AN  UNPLEASANT  OCCURRENCE.  635 

Beke,  that  if  the  center  of  the  Lualabu  is  only  2,000  feet  high 
it  was  hardly  possible  to  see  how  it  could  continue  in  the  same 
level  as  the  Gondokora,  He  could  not  agree  with  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society  that  it  might  flow 
into  a  large  central  lake.  He  could  only  express  his  regret 
that  the  excellent  instruments  sent  out  to  Dr.  Livingstone  had 
not  reached  him,  for  it  was  abundantly  evident  that  the  in- 
struments he  had  were  quite  inadequate.  There  was  another 
point  they  must  not  forget.  Dr.  Livingstone  was  not  yet  out 
of  the  bush.  (Hear,  hear.)  Nothing  had  yet  been  heard  of 
the  party  sent  up  by  Mr.  Stanley  since  they  had  left  the  coast 
Of  the  relief  fund  so  liberally  subscribed  there  still  remained 
£3,000,  which,  if  need  arose  in  the  course  of  years,  they  would 
be  ever  ready  to  apply. 

A  public  dinner  which  Mr.  Stanley  attended  at  Brighton 
did  not  end  so  pleasantly.  According  to  an  English  paper 
"  the  harmony  of  the  evening  was  disturbed  by  a  very  unfor- 
tunate occurrence.  The  '  Health  of  the  Visitors '  was  coupled 
with  the  name  of  Mr.  Stanley,  and  that  gentleman,  when  he 
came  to  speak  of  his  meeting  with  Dr.  Livingstone,  believed 
that  he  heard  some  expression  of  incredulity  among  the  audi- 
ence. With  great  vehemence  he  declaimed  against  being  so 
received  or  treated,  and  withdrew  from  the  room  in  great  in- 
dignation." 

The  following  letter  to  the  editor  of  the  London  Mail 
gives  what  ought  to  be  a  correct  version  of  the  affair : — 

"  Sir, — As  an  occurrence  at  the  dinner  given  by  the  Brighton 
and  Sussex  Medical  Society  to  the  President,  Vice-Presidents, 
and  other  distinguished  members  of  the  British  Association 
has  been  very  severely  commented  upon  in  several  of  the 
daily  papers,  unfairly  reflecting  upon  the  Brighton  medical 
men,  I  trust  I  may  be  pardoned  for  occupying  a  portion  of 
your  valuable  space  to  give  a  fair  and  truthful  statement  of 
what  really  occurred. 

The  toast  of  'The  Visitors'  having  been  intrusted  to  Mr. 
J.  Jardine  Murray,  one  of  the  Vice-Presidents  of  the  Brighton 
Medical  Society,  in  order  to  confer  the  highest  compliment 


636  DR.  BROWNE  EXPLAINS. 

on  Mr.  Stanley,  his  name  was  specially  mentioned.  Mr. 
Murray,  in  the  course  of  his  speech,  expressed  his  regret  that 
Dr.  Kirk,  who  was  formerly  an  old  college  friend  of  his, 
should  have  been  cast  into  the  shade  by  the  discovery  of  Dr. 
Livingstone  by  Mr.  Stanley,  Mr.  Murray  not  intending  by 
such  remarks  either  to  detract  from  the  merit  or  cast  the 
slightest  doubt  upon  the  success,  determination,  and  indom- 
itable courage  of  Mr.  Stanley. 

Mr.  Stanley,  who  had  but  recently  returned  into  the  room 
(having  left  with  the  Mayor,  after  the  third  toast  had  been 
given,  to  be  present  at  the  theatre),  commenced  his  reply  in 
a  grotesque  and  humorous  strain,  expressing  his  surprise  that 
he  should  be  called  upon  to  return  thanks,  when  there  were 
visitors  present  whose  eloquence  would  rival  that  of  Demos- 
thenes, Pericles,  or  even  their  own  Daniel  Webster.  He 
said,  likewise,  in  a  jocose  manner,  that  Dr.  Livingstone  had 
administered  pills,  potions,  and  plaisters  to  the  natives. 

These  remarks  were  made  with  considerable  gesticulation, 
which,  if  not  intended,  was  certainly  calculated  to  excite  and 
encourage  laughter,  and  some  such  feeling  may  have  naturally 
been  expressed  by  one  or  more  of  the  gentlemen  present,  but 
I  firmly  believe  with  no  intention  of  casting  a  sneer  or  offer- 
ing any  disrespect  to  Mr.  Stanley.  Mr.  Stanley  then  hastily 
left  the  room,  saying  that  he  did  not  come  there  to  be  ridi- 
culed or  laughed  at. 

This  conduct  of  Mr.  Stanley's  naturally  caused  the  greatest 
surprise  and  vexation  among  the  whole  of  the  company,  and 
his  departure  was  so  sudden  that  it  was  impossible  for  me  as 
chairman  to  exercise  that  tact  which  some  of  the  papers  cen- 
sure me  for  not  showing. 

This,  Sir,  is  the  '  plain,  unvarnished  tale.' 

I  remain,  Sir,  your  obedient  servant, 

GEORGE  BROWNE, 

President  of  the  Brighton  and  Sussex  Medical  Society." 

A  public  reception  to  Mr.  Stanley  was  given  by  the  Geo- 
graphical Society  at  London  on  the  21st  of  October.  Sir 
Henry  Rawlinson  presided,  having  the  guest  of  the  evening 


THE  GEOGRAPHICAL  SOCIETY  RECEPTION.  637 

at  his  right  hand,  and  the  Lord-Mayor  of  London  on  his  left. 
Speeches  were  made  and  toasts  given,  and  on  proposing  one 
to  the  health  of  Her  Majesty's  most  august  ally,  the  President 
of  the  United  States,  Mr.  Rawlinson  expressed  his  satisfaction 
in  the  exchange  of  civilities  which  England  and  America  were 
then  giving  to  their  respective  guests,  and  alluded  to  the 
exploits  of  Dr.  Kane,  etc. 

The  chairman  on  rising  to  propose  the  toast  of  the  eve- 
ning, explained  the  delay  in  giving  the  reception  by  saying 
that  a  public  dinner  in  the  month  of  August  was  all  but  an 
impossibility.  We  might  boast  of  our  freedom  and  were 
justly  proud  of  it,  but  in  many  respects  we  were  slaves — the 
slaves  of  the  inexorable  laws  of  habit  and  fashion;  and  one  of 
the  most  inexorable  of  those  laws  was,  that  as  soon  as  the 
London  season  was  over  we  were  forced  to  migrate  to  the 
country,  only  to  reappear  in  our  old  haunts  as  Autumn 
was  drawing  to  a  close.  He  trusted,  however,  that  they 
might  make  up  in  cordiality  for  their  lack  of  numbers. 

Mr.  Stanley's  journey  from  Unyanyembe  to  Ujiji  would 
remain  to  all  time  a  brilliant  example  of  what  courage  and 
endurance  could  achieve  when  the  heart  was  in  the  right 
place,  and  was  sustained  by  a  high  sense  of  loyalty  and  duty. 
Rising  from  a  bed  of  sickness,  and  surrounded  by  enemies, 
without  a  single  European  companion,  in  an  unknown  coun- 
try, with  fever  and  disease  raging  on  all  sides,  Mr.  Stanley 
had  been  able  to  find  his  way  through  four-hundred  or  five- 
hundred  miles  of  jungle  and  desert,  and  even  to  carry  with 
him  those  stores  which  at  Ujiji  brought  health  and  strength 
to  the  emaciated  Livingstone,  the  poor  old  man  who  patheti- 
cally described  himself  as  "  a  mere  ruckle  of  bones. 

He  was  satisfied  that  Mr.  Stanley  rendered  the  most 
important  service  to  Dr.  Livingstone  by  supplying  him  in 
his  hour  of  need — very  possibly  the  Doctor  owed  his  life  to 
the  timely  assistance  rendered  him  when  his  own  supplies 
were  found  to  be  plundered  and  exhausted.  It  was  in 
acknowledgment  of  that  special  service  that  they  were  met 
together  that  day  to  do  honor  to  Mr.  Stanley.  The  life  and 


638  STANLEY  ON  BURTON  AND  SPEKE. 

fame  of  Livingstone  were  the  property  of  the  nation,  and 
Mr.  Stanley,  therefore,  had  been  looked  upon  as  a  public 
benefactor  for  preserving  to  us  these  national  treasures.  In 
acknowledgment,  therefore,  of  the  services  which  Mr.  Stanley 
had  rendered  to  geography,  in  gratitude  for  his  successful 
efforts  to  relieve  Livingstone,  in  admiration  of  his  energy, 
his  daring — in  one  word  his  thorough-going  '  pluck,'  he  now 
proposed  that  they  should  drink  Mr.  Stanley's  health  and 
wish  him  every  success  in  his  future  career. 

Mr.  Stanley,  in  rising  to  respond,  was  received  with 
enthusiastic  cheers.  He  said  that  the  welcome  now  accorded 
him  was  one  such  as  Livingstone  himself  would  have  sighed 
for.  Livingstone  had  told  him  that  the  Royal  Geographical 
Society  were  his  friends ;  that  he  loved  them ;  that  he  was 
himself  one  of  their  number ;  that  they  were  those  who  had 
sustained  and  backed  him ;  and  that  they  would  also  back 
him  (Mr.  Stanley)  when  he  got  to  England. 

A  very  remarkable  letter  had  been  written  a  few  days  ago 
by  Captain  Burton — himself  a  distinguished  African  traveler 
— urging  the  Royal  Geographical  Society  to  send  an  expedi- 
tion up  the  Congo  to  rescue  Dr.  Livingstone  from  starvation. 
With  all  respect  for  the  excellent  motives  which  dictated 
Captain  Burton's  proposal,  he  said  that  Dr.  Livingstone 
was  in  no  danger  of  starving,  and  that  such  an  expedition 
was  unnecessary.  And  here  he  must  acknowledge  the  assist- 
ance he  had  derived  in  his  search  for  Livingstone,  from  the 
previous  labors  of  Captain  Burton  and  Captain  Speke. 

Assuming  that  Livingstone  was  lost  in  Central  Africa, 
and  that  a  young  man  who  was  chosen  to  go  out  and  find 
him,  succeeded  in  discovering  and  relieving  him,  and  also 
brought  safe  home  the  treasures  which  the  illustrious  traveler 
had  collected  after  many  years  of  toil  and  suffering,  it  might 
have  been  expected  that  the  society  for  whose  objects  the 
explorer  had  worked,  would  have  received  that  young  man 
with  a  certain  degree  of  favor.  But  he  was  told  when  he 
arrived  at  Zanzibar,  that  the  Royal  Geographical  Society 
would  condemn  him  for  doing  what  they  had  wished  to  do. 


THE  VICTORIA  MEDAL.  639 

And,  when  he  came  to  London,  everybody  seemed  to  be 
enveloped  in  a  cloud  which  would  not  let  them  see  the  broad 
daylight.  Now,  however,  they  had  assembled  together  to 
have  a  general  shake-hands.  (Hear,  hear).  If  the  Eoyal  Geo- 
graphical Society  deigned  to  confer  on  him  a  gold  medal,  he 
might  tell  them  that  that  was  just  what  he  had  been  dream- 
ing about.  It  was  all  Dr.  Livingstorie's  fault,  for  the  Doctor 
had  told  him  that  he  should  have  it ;  and  if  they  had  not 
accorded  him  that  reception  and  honor  they  would  have 
disappointed  Livingstone.  That  was  a  time  for  everything 
to  be  forgiven  and  forgotton.  He  was  informed  that  Dr. 
Kirk  had  received  a  very  friendly  letter  from  Dr.  Livingstone. 
He  was  delighted  to  hear  it.  As  long  as  Livingstone  thought 
he  was  injured  by  Dr.  Kirk,  he  would  think  so  also,  and  if 
Livingstone  would  think  Dr.  Kirk  was  his  friend  he  would 
think  so  too. 

In  conclusion  Mr.  Stanley  thanked  them  all,  in  the  first 
place,  for  the  banquet  they  had  given  him,  secondly  for  the 
medal  they  had  bestowed  on  him,  and  lastly  for  the  kindness 
with  which  they  had  listened  to  his  imperfect  remarks. 

The  Geographical  Society  had  previously  unanimously  voted 
to  Mr.  Stanley  the  Victoria  Medal — that  being  the  highest  of 
the  two  it  gives  out  annually  ( the  other  being  the  Society's 
Medal),  awarded  to  the  man  who  has  done  the  next  highest 
service  to  geography  during  the  year.  It  also  cordially  thank- 
ed Mr.  Bennett  "for  the  generous  and  philanthropic  spirit  in 
which  he  conceived  the  idea  of  relieving  Dr.  Livingstone,  and 
also  for  having  supplied  the  funds  for  that  purpose." 

As  frequent  allusion  is  made  by  Mr.  Stanley  to  his  unpleas- 
ant relations  with  Dr.  Kirk  at  Zanzibar,  it  is  but  justice  to 
give  the  following  view  of  it  from  an  English  stand-point ;  it 
is  copied  from  the  London  Times : — 

"  Mr.  Stanley  set  to  work  at  once  to  organize  his  expedition 
for  the  interior.  Of  every  detail  of  his  arrangements  he  gives 
an  excellent  and  graphic  account,  but  we  are  sorry  to  say  that 
he  begins  immediately  with  most  unworthy  personalities.  He 
seems  from  the  very  first  to  have  taken  a  most  unaccountable 


640  THE  DR.  KIRK  CONTROVERSY. 

dislike  to  Dr.  Kirk,  though  Dr.  Kirk,  from  Mr.  Stanley's  own 
evidence,  was  extremely  kind  to  him.  It  must  be  borne  in 
mind  that  Mr.  Stanley  kept  the  object  of  his  expedition  se- 
cret ;  that  his  whole  aim  at  Zanzibar  was  to  dissemble  it,  and 
that  when,  at  an  evening  party  at  the  Consulate,  he  did  in- 
quire about  Livingstone,  he  did  so  ,'  carelessly,'  in  a  manner 
studiously  intended  to  prevent  the  British  Consul  from  sup- 
posing for  a  moment  that  the  question  was  prompted  by  any- 
thing more  than  mere  passing  curiosity.  Mr.  Stanley  did  his 
best,  for  commercial  reasons,  to  throw  dust  in  Dr.  Kirk's  and 
everybody  else's  eyes,  and  he  has  no  right  whatever  to  com- 
plain because  some  of  it  blew  back  into  his  own. 

"  As  it  was,  Dr.  Kirk,  Mr.  Stanley  admits,  offered  him  all 
assistance  and  treated  him  with  perfect  courtesy,  and  with  a 
friendliness  and  hospitality  which  seem  even  excessive  when 
we  recollect  that  Dr.  Kirk  was  an  English  government  official 
of  high  standing  and  the  principal  European  at  Zanzibar,  and 
that  Mr.  Stanley  stood  to  him  in  the  light  of  an  inquisitive 
American  newspaper  correspondent  in  search  of  nothing  but 
'copy,'  and  anxious  only  to  'interview'  the  British  Consul  for 
the  benefit  of  the  readers  of  the  New  York  Herald. 

"  The  misunderstandings  and  unpleasantness  which  after- 
wards came  to  pass,  all  arose  from  this  first  false  start.  Had 
Mr.  Stanley  taken  Dr.  Kirk  into  his  confidence,  the  Royal 
Geographical  Society  would  probably  have  deferred  Lieutenant 
Dawson's  ill-fated  expedition,  or  would  at  least  have  instruct- 
ed him  what  to  do  in  the  event  of  the  American  caravan  re- 
lieving Dr.  Livingstone.  All  this  is  extremely  unpleasant, 
and  we  are  only  too  glad  to  turn  from  it  and  praise  the  busi- 
ness-like and  indomitable  energy  with  which  Mr.  Stanley  or- 
ganized his  expedition." 

At  the  time  of  Mr.  Stanley's  arrival  in  England  another 
African  traveler  chanced  to  be  there.  He,  too,  was  an  Amer- 
ican, a  Missourian  also,  who,  like  Stanley,  had  journeyed  in 
Oriental  lands — in  Eussia,  Turkey,  Syria, — had  visited  the 
Crimea,  Smyrna,  Pompei,  Jerusalem,  Damascus,  Egypt, 
and  the  classic  Nile — had  climbed  the  Pyramids  ( assisted  by 


MARK  TWAIN  ON  STANLEY.  641 

guides)  and  apostrophized  the  Sphynx.  Although  he  had 
never  interviewed  the  Wagogo,  the  finishing  touches  of  an 
English  edition  of  his  book  had  been  made,  as  he  says,  by  a 
Hotten-tot.  Both,  too,  were  journalists,  and  both  were 
receiving  honors  from  Londoners.  What  wonder,  under  such 
circumstances,  that  Mark  got  things  a  little  mixed. 

Mr  Twain  was  entertained  by  the  Whitefriar's  Club,  Lon- 
don, at  the  Mitre  Tavern,  on  the  6th  of  August ;  and  in  reply 
to  a  toast  in  his  honor,  spoke  as  follows : — 

"  Gentlemen  : — I  thank  you  very  heartily  indeed  for  this 
expression  of  kindness  towards  me.  What  I  have  done  for 
England  and  civilization  in  the  arduous  affairs  which  I  have 
engaged  in — that  is  good— that  is  so  smooth  that  I  will  say  it 
again  and  again — what  I  have  done  for  England  and  for  civil- 
ization in  the  arduous  part  I  have  performed,  I  have  done 
with  a  single-hearted  devotion  and  with  no  hope  of  reward. 

"  I  am  proud,  I  am  very  proud,  that  it  was  reserved  for  me 
to  find  Dr.  Livingstone,  and  for  Mr.  Stanley  to  get  all  the 
credit.  (  Laughter.)  I  hunted  for  that  man  in  Africa  all  over 
seventy -five  or  one  hundred  parishes,  thousands  and  thousands 
of  miles  in  the  wilds  and  deserts,  all  over  the  place,  sometimes 
riding  negroes  and  sometimes  traveling  by  rail.  I  didn't  mind 
the  rail  or  anything  else,  so  that  I  didn't  come  in  for  the  tar 
and  feathers. 

"  I  found  that  man  at  Ujiji — a  place  you  may  remember,  if 
you  have  ever  been  there — and  it  was  a  very  great  satisfaction 
that  I  found  him  just  in  the  nick  of  time.  I  found  that  poor 
old  man  deserted  by  his  niggers  and  by  his  geographers,  de- 
serted by  all  of  his  kind  except  the  gorillas — dejected,  mis- 
erable,famishing — absolutely  famishing;  but  he  was  eloquent. 
Just  as  I  found  him  he  had  eaten  his  last  elephant,  and  he 
said  to  me  'God  knows  where  I  shall  get  another.' 

"  He  had  nothing  to  wear  except  his  venerable  and  honor- 
able naval  suit,  and  nothing  to  eat  but  his  diary.  But  I  said  to 
him : — 'It  is  all  right,  I  have  discovered  you,  and  Stanley  will  bo 
here  by  the  4  o'clock  train  and  will  discover  you  officially,  and 
then  we  will  turn  to  and  have  a  reg'lar  good  time.'  I  said, 


642  MARK  TWAIN  ON  STANLEY. 

1  Cheer  up,  for  Stanley  has  got  corn,  ammunition,  glass  beads, 
hymn  books,  whisky,  and  everything  which  the  human  heart 
can  desire ;  he  has  got  all  kinds  of  valuables,  including  tele- 
graph poles  arid  a  few  cart-loads  of  money.  By  this  time 
communication  has  been  made  with  the  land  of  Bibles  and 
civilization,  and  property  will  advance.' 

"And  then  we  surveyed  all  that  country  from  Ujiji,  through 
Unanogo  and  other  places,  to  Unyanyembe.  I  mention  these 
names  simply  for  your  edification,  nothing  more — do  not  ex- 
pect it — particularly  as  intelligence  to  the  Royal  Geographi- 
cal Society.  And  then,  having  filled  up  the  old  man,  we 
were  all  too  full  for  utterance,  and  departed. 

"  We  have  since  then  feasted  on  honors.  Stanley  has  re- 
ceived a  snuff-box  and  I  have  received  considerable  snuif ;  he 
has  got  to  write  a  book  arid  gather  in  the  rest  of  the  credit, 
and  I  am  going  to  levy  on  the  copyright  and  to  collect  the 
money.  Nothing  comes  amiss  to  JJIG — cash  or  credit ;  but, 
seriously,  I  do  feel  that  Stanley  is  the  chief  man,  and  an  il- 
lustrious one,  and  I  do  applaud  him  with  all  my  heart. 
"Whether  he  is  an  American  or  a  Welshman  by  birth,  or  one, 
or  both,  matters  not  to  me. 

"  So  far  as  I  am  personally  concerned,  I  am  simply  here  to 
stay  a  few  months,  and  to  see  English  people  and  to  learn 
English  manners  and  customs,  and  to  enjoy  myself ;  so  the 
simplest  thing  T  can  do  is  to  thank  you  for  the  toast  you  have 
honored  me  with  and  for  the  remarks  you  have  made,  and  to 
wish  health  and  prosperity  to  the  Whitefriar's  Club,  and  to 
sink  down  to  my  accustomed  level" 


CHAPTER  XL. 
STANLEY  IN  SCOTLAND. 

IN  Scotland,  the  native  land  of  Livingstone,  Stanley  was  re- 
ceived with  open  arms.  In  Glasgow,  especially,  where  most 
of  the  boyhood  of  the  great  discoverer  was  spent,  he  was  wel- 
comed with  enthusiasm.  The  city  authorities  invited  him 
to  a  banquet,  October  23d,  at  which  the  Lord  Provost  pre- 
sided, and  proposed  the  health  of  the  distinguished  guest. 
The  following  extracts  are  from  Mr.  Stanley's  response  : — 

"  Gentlemen : — The  echoes  of  the  salutations  you  have 
given  me,  and  the  grasp  of  the  hand  which  I  received  from 
each  of  you  in  the  adjoining  hall,  I  still  feel  here.  I  think 
it  is  very  far  different  from  that  minatory  front  which  I  must 
say  every  Englishman  raised  up  when  I  first  came  to  Eng- 
land. I  think  it  is  extremely  different ;  in  fact,  so  far  differ- 
ent that  I  begin  to  ask  myself  the  true  reason  for  this  sudden 
change.  Is  it  not  because  you  have  received  weekly  commu- 
nications from  Dr.  Livingstone  ever  after  I  had  left  him? 
Is  not  this  a  change  from  that  dark  silence  that  enveloped 
the  explorer,  and  which  lasted  from  June,  1869,  till  the  10th 
of  November,  when  I  met  him  at  Ujiji  last  year  ? 

"  How  did  he  come  to  be  alone  there  ?  What  was  he  doing 
in  Africa?  What  had  he  gone  there  to  see — a  reed  shaken 
with  the  wind  ?  Gory  battle-fields,  or  honor,  or  distinction 
there?  'He  is  the  apostle  of  Africa.  He  is  the  explorer,  and 
the  voice  of  his  friend  still  urges  him  onwards  to  complete 
his  duty,  and  solve  the  question  of  the  sources  of  the  Nile, 

643 


644:  STANLEY  AT  GLASGOW. 

and  then  come  home.  We  know  that  if  he  explores  all  that 
dark  and  impenetrable  interior  of  Africa,  there  is  a  future  for 
that  country.  We  know  well  that  those  dark,  benighted 
savages  will  say  in  the  future,  "  Come  on,  civilization — we 
are  waiting  for  you,"  and  when  civilization  shall  have  done 
its  work,  what  shall  be  said  by  the  Christian  men  who  see  his 
pioneer  work  ?  They  will  say  that  it  was  Livingstone.  What 
is  he  doing?  Is  he  not  the  Attila  of  civilization  ?  Is  he  not 
the  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  ?  Is  he  not  the  Captain  John  Smith  ? 
Is  he  not  the  Hengist  and  Horsa  who  invaded  Great  Britain, 
and  turned  it  to  what  it  is  to-day  ? 

"  You  know  I  had  such  a  sweet,  charming  invitation  to  go 
down  to  Brighton.  I  said  to  myself, t  Well,  the  English  peo- 
ple have  been  enveloped  in  a  cloud,  and  I  will  endeavor  to 
pierce  it,'  Dear  me,  what  blessed  innocence  was  mine ;  what 
a  raw  rustic  youth  was  I  to  think  I  could  move  all  that  skep- 
tical mass  to  my  way  of  thinking,  and  to  Dr.  Livingstone's 
way  of  thinking. 

"  Of  course  the  great,  momentous  day  came,  when  Brigh- 
ton, which  hitherto  had  been  involved  in  a  fog,  was  to  be 
enlightened  ;  and  the  Geographical  Society,  which  was  hith- 
erto so  skeptical,  was  to  be  converted  from  so  many  doubting 
Thomases,  and  that  skepticism  was  to  be  banished  at  once, 
and  swept  away  with  a  clean  broom.  I  came  down  to  Brigh- 
ton. Oh !  there  was  such  a  crowd  as  would  make  the  eyes 
of  an  orator  glisten  and  his  heart  swell.  Therefore,  when  I 
saw  the  sympathy  that  was  manifested  by  the  audience,  it 
acted  like  magnetism  upon  me,  and  I  spoke  my  feelings, 
which  were  fresh,  to  that  great  mass  of  faces,  who,  as  one 
individual,  seemed  to  ask  me  to  tell  them  the  story  of  my 
dear  friend,  Dr.  Livingstone. 

"  Could  I  have  the  heart  to  refuse  them,  more  especially 
as  I  knew  of  that  old  man's  woes  and  sufferings  which  he 
related  to  me  on  the  Tanganyika  ?  Could  I  have  said  to  the 
audience,  with  a  mocking  smile,  Dr.  Livingstone  is  quite  well, 
an-1  sends  his  best  respects  to  you?  Could  I  have  said  that 
and  then  sat  down,  telling  them  that  I  would  say  no  more  ? 


THE  GEOGRAPHERS  REVIEWED.  Cio 

No,  gentlemen.  I  spoke  what  was  in  my  heart,  and  related 
to  them  his  sufferings,  and  I  hoped  that  narrative  to  them 
would  make  such  an  impression  upon  them  that  they  would 
sympathize  with  the  old  traveler,  and  believe  the  story  I  told 
them.  I  then  sat  down,  fancying  I  had  made  an  impression  ; 
but,  Englishmen,  the  sequence  was  really  pathetic ;  how  it 
harasses  my  feelings  every  time  I  think  of  it ! 

"  One  gentleman  got  up  and  said,  '  Ah,  Dr.  Livingstone 
says  he  has  seen  cannibals  there,  and  men  eating  pigs  there. 
Impossible.  Dr.  Livingstone  is  wandering ;  he  has  been  much 
farther  west  than  he  thought.'  That  gentleman  sits  down, 
and  another  gentleman  rises,  and  every  time  I  find  I  have 
another  antagonist.  So  I  take  my  notes.  Dr.  Bunkum  says, 
'I  feel  convinced  that  Dr.  Livingstone  has  not  discovered 
the  sources  of  the  Nile.'  That  gentleman  sits  down,  and 
Cad  Jr.,  says,  '  "Well,  Dr.  Livingstone  will  by  and  by  begin 
to  say  what  I  have  said.  I  do  not  believe  in  his  arbitrary 
way  of  settling  the  sources  of  the  Nile,  because  I  do  not 
understand  it.' 

"  So  Cad  Jr.,  bows  to  the  audience,  and  then  takes  his 
seat,  and  then  I  am  asked  to  rise  and  reply.  I  have  got  my 
notes,  and  remark  that  one  gentleman  had  said  because  Dr. 
Livingstone  saw  no  gorillas  on  the  Lualaba  he  must  have  been 
much  farther  west  than  he  really  thought,  because  I  never 
saw  any  gorillas  in  Uganda.  The  gentleman  forgets  that 
between  that  point  and  Dr.  Livingstone's  points  there  were 
eight  degrees  of  longitude.  The  gentleman  might  have  said, 
'  I  have  seen  St.  Paul's  Cathedral,'  and  another  gentleman 
in  France  might  have  eaid,  '  You  are  mistaken,  sir ;  there  is 
no  St.  Paul's  Cathedral  in  France,  therefore  there  can  be  none 
in  England.'  What  was  the  end  of  it  all  ?  The  gentleman 
got  up  and  with  great  suavity,  an  elongated  smile  and  with 
sweet  sympathy,  said,  'We  are  very  much  obliged  to  Mr. 
Stanley ;  but  we  do  not  want  sensational  stories.  We  want 
facts.'  Well,  I  might  have  risen  and  like  the  Irishman, 
said,  "  Shure,  begorra,  all  I  have  said  are  facts." 

At  Hamilton,  near  Glasgow,  where  Livingstone's  father  so 


64:6  AT  THE  EARLY  HOME  OF  LIVINGSTONE. 

long  resided  as  a  tea  monger  Stanley  was  honored  by  a  recep- 
tion, which  seems  to  have  touched  his  feelings  more  than  any 
other.  Provost  Dykes,  in  opening  the  proceedings,  said : — 

"  Gentlemen  of  the  ToM'n  Council,  and  ladies  and  gentle- 
men :  nearly  sixteen  years  ago  this  Council  met  to  do  all  the  honor 
it  could  to  a  great  man,  whose  name  was  even  then  a  word 
of  national  pride..  He  had  returned  after  an  absence  of 
seventeen  years  spent  in  missionary  work  and  scientific 
explorations  in  Central  Africa,  and  his  home  coming  then 
was  looked  upon  as  life  from  the  dead.  No  mark  of  regard 
that  could  be  shown  was  omitted,  and  wherever  he  went, 
from  the  metropolis  to  the  humblest  village,  he  was  welcomed 
and  honored.  All  vied  in  testifying  their  admiration  for  the 
large-hearted  and  enterprising  missionary,  the  fearless  trav- 
eler and  the  modest  Christian  gentleman. 

"Again,  after  sixteen  years,  we  are  met  as  a  Council,  to  do 
honor  to  another  man  whose  name  will  not  only  be  forever 
linked  in  after  times  with  that  of  our  townsman,  Dr.  Living- 
stone, but  will  always  be  cited  whenever  is  wanted  an  example 
of  nobleness,  bravery  and  success. 

"  It  is  not  my  duty  to-day,  however  willing  I  might  be,  to 
follow  the  wanderings  and  history  of  the  brave,  good  man 
who,  sixteen  years  ago,  was  enrolled  a  burgess  here.  I 
trust  the  day  is  now  near  when  he  will  return  and  delight  the 
world  with  his  own  narrative. 

"  I  must  now  advert  to  what,  from  being  a  painful  subject 
has  come  to  throw  the  great  work  of  Mr.  Stanley  into  even 
finer  relief — I  mean  the  skepticism  with  which  his  narrative 
was  at  first  in  some  quarters  received.  There  was  but  little 
of  it  here,  as  you  know.  Perhaps  our  smaller  geographical 
knowledge  may  account  for  our  greater  faith — perhaps  our 
greater  regard  for  Dr.  Livingstone.  (Hear,  hear,  and 
applause.)  But  that  may  rest.  All  are  now  as  one,  and 
amends  have  been  honorably  made  to  our  brave  friend,  and 
graciously  accepted. 

Turning  to  Mr.  Stanley  the  Provost  continued : — "  Mr.  Stan- 
ley :  the  people  of  this  town,  cherishing  the  regard  they  have 


CITIZENSHIP  CONFERRED  OX  STANLEY  647 

always  had  for  Dr.  Livingstone,  and  pride  in  his  association 
with  the  place,  were  deeply  interested  witnesses  of  the  great 
enterprise  you  so  nobly  took  in  hand,  so  bravely  carried 
through,  and  so  brilliantly  and  successfully  completed.  The 
Town  Council  of  Hamilton,  knowing  the  feeling  which  the 
community  entertained,  unanimously  resolved  to  express  the 
admiration  and  the  thanks  of  the  corporation  in  the  only  way 
at  their  command — by  presenting  you  with  the  freedom  of 
the  burgh. 

"  I  need  hardly  say  that  the  enrolling  of  your  name  among 
the  honorary  burgesses  of  the  town,  carries  with  it  no  mate- 
rial advantage.  It  is  only  an  honor.  I  do  not  use  the 
expression  empty  honor ;  for  where  honor  is  deserved,  as  in 
your  case,  it  can  never  be  empty.  In  our  burgess  roll  your 
name  will  stand  beside  many  worthy  names.  If  I  mistake 
not,  the  last  is  the  name  of  the  brave  officer  who  commanded 
our  gallant  Seventy-eighth  in  the  Helief  of  Lucknow.  This 
casket  contains  the  certificate  of  your  citizenship,  and  I  can 
assure  you  that  we  shall  cherish  the  name  which  I  will  ask 
you  to  inscribe  in  our  roll,  with  feelings  of  the  highest  honor 
and  regard."  The  Provost  concluded  amid  loud  and  pro- 
longed cheering. 

The  box  enclosing  the  burgess  ticket  is  of  silver,  and  oblong 
in  form,  ornamented  with  the  arms  of  the  Burgh  of  Hamilton, 
engraved  in  the  centre  of  a  brightly  polished  shield  sur- 
rounded with  a  band  of  Scotch  thistles  in  relief  on  a  frosted 
ground. 

At  the  request  of  the  Provost,  Mr.  Stanley  inscribed  his 
name  in  the  register  of  burgesses. 

Provost  Dykes  then  said : — "  In  conformity  with  rule,  sir,- 
you  swear  that  you  will  discharge  the  office  of  a  burgess  faith- 
fully." 

Mr.  Stanley  (smiling)—"  Yes." 

Mr.  Stanley,  who  was  received  with  enthusiasm^  the  audi- 
ence rising  and  cheering,  said : — 

"  Mr.  Provost  and  Corporation,  ladies  and  gentlemen  of  the 
town  of  Hamilton  : — Permit  me  to  respond'  to  the  -very  flat- 


GiS  STANLEY'S  SPEECU  AT  HAMILTON. 

tering  and  complimentary  remarks  bestowed  on  me  and  my 
mission  by  Mr.  Provost  Dykes.  I  have  returned  to  you  to- 
day, having  conquered  no  enemies.  I  have  simply  triumphed 
over  personal  dangers,  and  over  the  "  amenities "  of  savage 

and  Central  Africa. 

*#*  ##•#  ## 

"  I  will  not  recapitulate  the  dangers  and  privations  and 
difficulties  I  met  with  on  my  way,  so  I  will  strike  briefly 
across  Central  Africa  to  that  little  hill  the  last  of  the  myriads 
we  crossed.  As  we  marched  down  with  the  exuberance  of 
heroes — men  who  thought  much  of  themselves — men  who 
thought  that  their  mission  might  possibly  be  on  the  eve  of 
accomplishment — as  we  trod  down  that  little  slope  to  the 
Bunder  of  Ujiji  embowered  in  palms,  and  had  just  caught 
slight  glimpses  of  the  dun  brownness  of  the  beehive  village 
beneath,  I  looked  and  wondered,  and  said,  '  In  which  of  these 
houses  is  that  man — that  being — that  white  man  with  the 
whiskers  of  which  I  have  heard  ? '  My  men  shouted.  They 
partook  of  the  enthusiasm  which  animated  me — they  shared 
in  the  hope  that  on  this  day  would  we  see  our  mission  accom- 
plished ;  and  suddenly  I  heard  a  voice  saying, '  Good  morning, 
sir.' 

"  Such  a  salutation,  emanating  from  such  a  black  and  bar- 
barous group,  was  of  course  most  extraordinary,  and  I  there- 
fore turned,  with  my  curiosity  at  the  highest  pitch,  and  said, 
1  Who  are  you,  sir  ? '  'I  am  Susi,  the  servant  of  Dr.  Living- 
stone.' 'What,  is  Dr.  Livingstone  here?'  'Sure,  sure,  he 
is.'  '  Do  you  mean  to  say  Dr.  Livingstone  is  in  this  village  ? ' 
'  Yes,  I  left  him  just  now.'  '  Good  morning^sir,'  said  another 
one.  '  Hallo  !  who  are  you  ? '  '  My  name  is  Chumah.'  Are 
you  Chumah,  the  friend  of  Wekotani  ? '  '  Yes,'  said  he.  I  said 
to  Susi,  'Hun  and  tell  Dr.  Livingstone  I  am  coming ; '  and  he 
shot  off  like  a  madman,  with  his  turban  trailing  behind  him 
in  the  breeze.  We  march  on.  We  have  arrived  at  a  dense 
group  of  Arabs  who  are  waiting  our  arrival  with  utmost 
expectation — the  utmost  curiosity.  They  desire  to  hear  of 
their  friends  who  have  fallen  in  the  battles  with  Mirambo,  of 


STANLEY'S  SPEECH  AT  HAMILTON.  649 

the  condition  of  their  friends  at  Unyanyembe,  and,  therefore, 
I  have  all  these  Arabs,  all  these  black  men  waiting  for 
my  arrival;  and  in  the  centre  of  that  group  is  the  grand 
figure  that  I  have  been  after.  As  I  see  him,  dressed  in  a 
faded  blue  cap  with  a  band  of  gold  lace  round  it,  I  say  to 
myself,  <  The  myth  is  indeed  a  fact,  and  the  fact  is  a  living 
man,'  and  that  is  (  Dr.  Livingstone,  I  presume.'  He  said, 
'  Yes.'  The  joy  that  I  experienced  at  that  moment  was  also 
shared  by  that  white  man  with  the  gray  Avhiskers,  the  report 
of  whom  I  heard  on  the  Malagarazi  Kiver. 

"  No  longer  to  me  was  there  anything  of  interest  excepting 
this  white  man.  I  longed  to  hear  from  his  own  lips  what  he 
had  done — how  he  had  passed  his  days  during  those  many 
years  after  he  had  been  thought  to  be  dead.  So  we  sat 
together  in  that  verandah,  side  by  side.  The  Arabs  were 
also  there.  They  wished  to  survey  him  and  me,  and  until 
the  sun  had  fallen  behind  the  western  horizon,  until  it  had 
bathed  the  whole  blue  barrier  beyond  the  Tanganyika,  until 
the  great  palm  trees  of  Ujiji  were  covered  with  darkness, 
there  we  sat — the  myth,  now  a  fact,  and  I.  I  have  been 
listening  to  his  story,  and  what  a  history  ?  What  a  history 
of  a  man's  triumphs  over  the  sufferings  that  white  men  must 
experience  in  that  country — what  a  history  of  privations,  of 
difficulties !  You  sitting  here  cannot  realize  them.  Go 
there  and  learn ;  go  there  and  experience  just  for  two  weeks, 
what  he  has  experienced  for  the  last  thirty-five  years.  And 
when  that  man  tells  you  the  story,  you  of  all  men  will  know 
how  to  appreciate  it — will  know  then  that  it  is  a  truthful 
history.  After  he  has  told  you,  you  will  best  know  how  to 
sympathize  with  him.  I  have  brought  him  a  bundle  of  let- 
ters containing  news  of  his  home,  news  of  his  family,  news 
of  his  friends,  news  of  the  great  world  of  the  white  men  ; 
and  seeing  that  he  desires  to  read,  I  say  to  the  Doctor,  '  You 
had  better  retire  and  read  these  letters,  and,  while  I  wish  you 
good-night,  permit  me  to  hope  that  there  is  nothing  but  good 
news  for  you.'  And  so  we  part. 

"  In  the  morning  he  is  full  of  his  stories.     *  My  friends  are 


650  GRAND  BANQUET. 

all  well,  my  children  are  all  happy,  the  world  ia  going  along 
as  usual ;  but  what  changes ! '  I  must  congratulate  him. 
And  so  day  by  day  glides  past  while  I  sit  listening  to  his 
story. 

"After  resolving  the  problem  of  Tanganyika,  we  make 
our  way  to  Unyanyembe,  and  there  I  leave  him,  but  with  a 
promise  that  the  message  he  has  charged  me  to  deliver  shall 
be  delivered  faithfully.  I  go,  inspired  by  the  thought  that 
the  old  man  will  be  sitting  day  after  day,  week  after  week, 
and  month  after  month  in  the  verandah  of  that  house  in 
Unyanyembe,  which  I  know  so  well,  thinking  and  hoping 
and  praying  that  I  may  reach  the  coast  safe  and  well,  and 
that  the  men  he  has  desired  me  to  send  to  him  will  reach 
him  in  time,  counting  the  days — and  the  days  seem  long  to 
him.  He  has  rested  at  Unyanyembe  the  same  time  as  I 
rested  when  that  cloud  overcast  me — when  I  lingered  there, 
on  account  of  the  war  with  Mirambo,  three  months,  and  sat 
in  that  verandah  looking  at  the  hills  before  me,  and  ever 
wishing  that  something  would  come  up  in  order  to  impel  me 
into  action.  And  so,  impelled  onward  by  the  thought  of  the 
inan  who  is  waiting  for  me,  I  march  from  Unyanyembe  to 
Zanzibar  in  thirty-five  days,  whereas  it  took  me  ninety-two 

days  to  go  up. 

*  "          #  •*  *  #•*  *  * 

"  If  the  Royal  Geographical  Society  will  give  me  the  gold 
medal  of  1872,  permit  me  to  assure  you,  my  dear  ladies  and 
gentlemen,  that  I  will  regard  that  as  a  memento  of  my  jour- 
ney to  Uji ji — as  a  thing  to  be  retained  with  due  honor,  know- 
ing the  reason  why  it  was  bestowed.  And  if  the  Corporation 
of  the  city  of  Glasgow  invite  me  to  luncheon,  and  if  Mr.  Pro- 
vost and  the  Corporation  of  the  town  of  Hamilton — who  are 
so  proud  of  calling  Dr.  Livingstone  their  townsman — say  to 
me,  '  Mr.  Stanley,  you  must  come  here  and  be  a  burgess  of 
the  town,'  I  assure  you  ladies  and  gentlemen,  I  am  not  the 
person  to  refuse  it.  You  see  I  have  willingly  signed  my  name, 
I  have  willingly  received  that  certificate  of  my  burgessship 
which  Mr.  Provost  and  the  Corporation  of  the  town  of  Ham- 


GRAND  BANQUET.  651 

ilton  have  been  pleased  to  give  me.  If  I  were  to  go  on  detail- 
ing ray  thanks,  I  would  occupy  you  for  hours,  and  days,  and 
weeks  and  months.  But  you  must  understand  that  my  heart 
is  full ;  I  thank  you." 

At  the  close  of  the  proceedings  in  the  town  hall  at  Hamil- 
ton, a  select  company  sat  down  to  a  generous  banquet,  at  which 
Mr.  Stanley  was  called  out  again  and  spoke  as  follows : 

"  You  all  know  my  feelings  and  sentiments  in  regard  to 
Dr.  Livingstone  and  his  discovery.  I  might  ask  myself — 
'Why  do  I  feel  angered  at  the  jealousy  which  the  English 
people  have  exhibited  ?'  Why,  you  know  the  English  peo- 
ple are  very  apt  to  be  more  jealous  than  any  other  people  in 
the  world.  Do  you  doubt  it  ?  How  did  you  treat  James 
Bruce  when  he  came  back  from  Abyssinia  ?  When  he  told 
you  that  he  saw  live  bullocks  prostrated  on  the  ground,  and 
steaks  cut  out  of  their  living  bodies,  And  when  he  told  you 
that  he  saw  that  eaten  and  the  wound  plastered  over  again, 
you  greeted  him  with  the  loud  and  universal  guffaw.  For 
eighteen  years  poor  James  Bruce  kept  his  manuscript  to  him- 
self. He  would  not  print  it,  because  though  he  did  write  it, 
he  said,'  1  may  as  well  drive  a  nail  into  an  anvil  as  sense  into 
these  people.'  He  was  a  Scotchman.  Then  why  should  I 
feel  angry  or  in  any  way  hurt  ?  Then  there  was  that  poor 
Frenchman,  Rene  Caillie  —  one  of  the  greatest  travelers, 
excepting  Dr.  Livingstone,  who  have  ever  set  foot  in  Africa. 
He  crossed  the  Continent  of  Africa,  and  he  told  you  that  the 
Desert  of  Sahara  was  not  all  one  grand  expanse  of  sand.  You 
laughed  at  him  also.  You  would  not  believe  him.  Then  you 
sent  Major  Laing  there.  He  came  back  and  told  you  the  very 
fiame  thing,  and  then  you  believed  it.  After  you  believed 
did  you  make  up  for  your  doubts  ?  What  did  you  say  to 
James  Bruce,  who  for  eighteen  years  had  suffered  all  that  you 
jealous  people  like  to  give  2  And  yet,  gentlemen,  this  was 
only  number  two.  Then  Paul  Du  Chaillu  said  he  had  seen 
gorillas.  He  got  into  trouble,  and  people  said, '  He  never  saw 
a  gorilla.' 

"  That  is  just  what  Dr.  Livingstone,   when    he  comes 


652  OSWELL  LIVINGSTONE. 

home,  will  receive — if  not  here,  at  least  from  some  in  the 
south  of  this  country.  He  will  tell  you  that  he  saw  the 
gorilla,  and  the  people  will  tell  him — '.No,  you  did  not ;  it  was 
a  chimpanzee.'  In  view  of  all  this,  I  would  especially  coun- 
sel any  ardent  young  gentleman  here,  or  any  enthusiastic  aged 
soul  here,  never  to  take  up  his  staff  to  go  to  Africa  and  do 
anything  very  grand,  unless  he  is  prepared  to  meet  detractors 
when  he  comes  back.  If  you  were  to  say  you  saw  the  Mount 
Keniniea,  somebody  would  say,  '  No,  you  did  not ;  it  was 
Kilena,  at  the  northern  head  of  Lake  Tanganyika.'  If  you 
were  to  say  you  saw  Kinyan,  they  would  tell  you  it  was  Kil- 
ainonga.  If  you  were  to  say,  '  I  have  discovered  Lufigi,  that 
llows  from  Lake  Tanganyika,'  somebody  would  say  that  it 
flows  not  from  Tanganyika,  but  from  another  lake. 

"  It  has  been  said  that  Dr.  Livingstone  kept  no  notes  and 
no  observations.  Now  I  know  I  used  to  see  Livingstone  take 
his  note-book  almost  every  night,  and  how  often  during  the 
thirty -five  years  he  has  been  doing  that — over  and  over  again 
— I  cannot  tell.  It  might,  perhaps,  look  to  you  rather  silly 
for  any  person  to  write  down  '  Marched  seven  hours,  course 
S.S.W.;'  'Marched  three  and  a  half  hours,  course  N.N.E.,'and 
write  certain  remarks,  as  '  Forest,  much  game,  tumbled  over 
a  buffalo,  rolled  over  an  elephant,  shot  a  grouse,  stuck  pig,' 
and  so  on.  You  associate  all  these  together,  and  when  you 
come  to  write  your  book  these  are  living  facts.  You  see  that 
a  chain  of  association  immediately  runs  through  the  mind  as 
you  call  them  up,  and  things  you  do  not  think  of  at  all  while 
you  were  putting  down  your  notes,  you  remember  just  as 
clearly  as  the  moment  they  transpired.  Gentlemen,  I  sit 
down  by  again  thanking  you  for  your  very  kind  reception." 

Mr.  Oswell  Livingstone  was  present  at  the  banquet,  and 
in  reference  to  his  returning  to  England  instead  of  leading 
the  English  Expedition  to  Ujiji,  Mr.  Stanley  said  :-— 

"  It  remained  then  with  Oswell  Livingstone  to  go  on  with 
the  expedition,  and  not  to  return  until  he  had  seen  his  father 
at  Unyanyembe.  That  would  have  been  so,  if  Mr.  Oswell 
Livingstone  had  been  in  good  health.  But  at  that  time  he 


STANLEY  AT  EDINBURGH.  653 

was  not.  He  was  no  more  fit  in  his  then  condition  of  health 
to  have  crossed  the  Makolo  swamp — with  water  up  to  the 
breast  for  days  together — to  have  gone  over  the  Kingani 
plain,  or  across  the  burning  plain  of  Ugogo,  than  he  was  to 
fly.  Yet  he  would  go  on.  I  told  him, '  Now,  then,  you  may 
go  on.  Your  father  loves  you  so  much  that  he  will  come 
five,  six  or  seven  days'  march  to  meet  you.'  He  had  made 
up  his  mind  to  go,  and  for  two  weeks,  during  which  the 
expedition  was  getting  ready,  he  kept  up  that  idea.  But  by 
this  time  Dr.  Kirk,  the  physician  and  the  friend  of  Dr.  Liv- 
ingstone, said  to  him,'  Now  it  is  no  more  use  for  you  to  go  to 
Unyanyembe  than  it  is  for  you  to  fly ;  you  had  better  go 
back.'  Mr.  Oswell  said,  *  No,  I  prefer  to  go  on ;  but  eventu- 
ally he  consented  to  forego  the  journey  for  several  reasons. 
The  first  was,  that  it  was  not  absolutely  necessary  for  him  to 
go,  because  his  father  was  relieved  ;  the  second  was  that  he 
was  sick  ;  and  the  third  was  that  Dr.  Kirk,  his  friend  and  his 
father's  friend  also,  thought  it  better  for  him  not  to  go  from 
a  medical  point  of  view.  I  therefore  say  that  he  did  per- 
fectly right  in  coming  home.  If  he  had  gone  on  he  would 
also  have  been  perfectly  right,  and  his  father  would  have 
been  proud  to  see  him ;  but  his  father  knows  that  if  Oswell 
Livingstone  had  not  very  good  reasons  for  returning,  Oswell 
Livingstone  would  not  have  returned." 

At  Edinburgh,  Stanley  was  welcomed  publicly  by  the 
journalists,  who  invited  him  to  a  public  dinner,  October 
thirty-first,  at  which  Mr.  Charles  Cooper,  editor  of  the  "Scots- 
man" presided.  At  Leith  and  other  places  in  Scotland, 
Stanley  was  entertained  in  a  creditable  manner. 

On  the  whole,  his  reception  in  Scotland  was  worthy  of 
Caledonia's  reputation  for  hospitality,  worthy  of  the  land 
that  has  given  birth  to  some  of  the  best  men  and  brightest 
intellects  that  the  world  has  ever  seen,  not  the  least  among 
whom  is  the  missionary  explorer,  David  Livingstone. 


CHAPTER  XLI. 
STANLEY  AT  HOME. 

IITR.  STANLEY  arrived  at  New  York  November  2Qth,  on 
Jj-L  the  steamship  Cuba.  The  vessel  was  met  at  the  Narrows 
by  a  steamboat,  on  board  of  which  were  a  number  of  journalists, 
as  well  as  several  members  of  the  Geographical  Society,  who 
gave  the  famous  Bohemian  a  warm  welcome. 

"With  colors  waving  the  yacht  steamed  swiftly  to  the 
Battery,  where  a  carriage  was  in  waiting  to  convey  him  to 
Mr.  Bennett's  office.  After  remaining  in  Mr.  Bennett's  room 
for  some  time,  he  was  waited  upon  by  a  number  of  his  friends 
and  former  associates,  to  whom  he  recounted  the  story  of  the 
adventures  with  which  the  reader  is  already  familiar,  as  well 
as  his  experience  since  returning  to  civilization. 

Mr.  Stanley  stated  that  the  voyage  had  been  a  pleasant  one, 
but  little  rough  weather  having  been  experienced.  He 
expressed  great  pleasure  in  returning  to  his  native  land  and 
meeting  those  with  whom  he  had  been  associated  previous  to 
his  expedition  in  search  of  Dr.  Livingstone.  Subsequently 
he  underwent  some  of  the  pleasant  penalties  of  fame,  in  the 
shape  of  receiving  visitors,  sitting  for  photographers,  respond- 
ing to  delegations  charged  with  invitations,  and  submitting 
generally  to  the  good  fortune  which  his  brave  services  have 
brought  thickly  upon  him. 

Second  only  to  his  master  in  point  of  attraction  was  the 
bright  little  boy  Kalulu,  from  Cazembe,  eleven  years  of  age, 

who  has  followed  Stanley's  fortunes  to  the  country  where 

654 


KALULU  INTERVIEWED.  655 

the  African  race  have  found  a  home  and  a  vote.  lie  was 
interviewed  by  a  journalist  with  the  following  results: — 

"  This  little  chap,  was  clothed  after  the  manner  of  an 
English  page  of  the  nineteenth  century,  whose  status  is  better 
expressed  in  the  word  'buttons.'  He  was  a  little  shy  on 
being  first  introduced.  When,  however,  he  was  addressed 
by  Stanley  in  Kisawihili,  the  language  of  his  tribe,  which  is 
located  in  Cazembe's  country,  beyond  Tanganyika,  he  talked 
with  considerable  fluency  and  a  certain  pertinence  of  reply. 

"  *  Injo,  Kalulu ! ' 

" '  Kassawatch  kazuntoodle,'  said  the  boy  looking  up. 

" '  Maragaroo,  sana,  sana,'  pointing  to  a  picture  of  the  Liv- 
ingstone statue. 

" '  Lifinston  ! '  replied  the  boy  beaming  with  intelligence. 

" '  Roleyioprayo  arabman  ! ' 

"A  devotional  look  overcast  the  dusky  features  of  the 
untutored  lad,  and  he  forthwith  proceeded  to  imitate  the 
praying  of  the  Arabs  at  sunset  with  a  perfection  of  mimicry. 
Stretching  out  his  arms  he  prayed  to  Allah,  and  then  rubbed 
his  face ;  after  which  he  knelt  down  gravely  and  reverently, 
touching  his  head  to  the  ground  thrice  ;  then  he  rubbed  his 
face  with  his  hands,  as  in  deep  thought,  only  drooping  them 
to  grasp  his  knees,  as  though  a  certain  bounding  insect  was 
perched  thereon.  Poor  little  chap  !  He  had  seen  this  proc- 
ess so  often  repeated  that  he  evidently  thought  the  flea-dis- 
turbing motion  a  part  of  the  Mohammedan  ceremony. 

" '  Tifololderolol,  Kalulu,'  said  Stanley ;  and  the  boy  at 
once  proved  how  the  musical  instinct  of  the  children  of 
Africa,  was  strong  within  him.  He  rocked  his  body,  rolled 
his  eyes,  and  burst  forth  in  a  Kisawihili  song  as  follows  ; — 

" '  Shufli  doanbodamee, 
Shufli  doanbodamee, 
Ibel  ongtocumancjee. ' 

"  In  reply  to  further  questions  in  his  native  tongue,  a  faint 
idea  of  which  will  be  gained  from  the  above,  he  stated  that 
lie  was  at  present  in  a  country  called  London.  His  parents 
were  poor  but  respectable,  and  engaged  in  the  whitewashing 
business. 


656  THE  LOTUS  CLUB  RECEPTIOX. 

"  This  was  performed,  however,  on  the  souls  of  the  Kisawi- 
hili  and  not  on  their  houses — his  dad  being  a  medicine  man. 
The  reverend  gentlemen  of  the  colored  persuasion  will  please 
take  note  of  this.  He  finds  it  very  hard  to  see  the  difference 
between  slaves  and  freemen  yet.  In  Africa,  people  were 
owned  by  other  people,  and  here,  so  far  as  he  had  looked  into 
politics  and  business,  he  found  it  much  the  same  thing. 

"  This  boy  has  evidently  a  great  deal  to  learn  from  the 
bird  of  freedom.  The  colored  boys  at  the  hotel  he  culled 
pagans,  and  his  white  admirers  he  admitted  to  be  brothers. 
At  this  stage  of  the  proceedings  he  remembered  some  chest- 
nuts in  his  pockets,  and  all  further  efforts  to  draw  out  this 
interesting  little  African  lion  had  as  much  effect  as  attempt- 
ing to  interview  the  lion  at  Central  Park  when  polishing  a 
bone." 

The  Lotus  Club  gave  Mr.  Stanley  a  brilliant  reception  at 
their  Club  House  in  Irving  Place,  on  the  evening  of 
November  22d.  The  building  was  thronged  by  a  very  bril- 
liant company,  and  the  affair  was  marked  throughout  by 
great  enthusiasm  and  heartfelt  pleasure.  The  assemblage 
included  distinguished  journalists,  merchants,  members  of 
the  clerical  profession,  etc.,  and  one  and  all  were  profuse  in 
their  expressions  of  welcome  for  the  discoverer  of  Dr.  Liv- 
ingstone. The  reception  parlors  were  very  handsomely  dec- 
orated, and  prominent  among  the  very  attractive  features 
was  a  beautiful  wreath  of  flowers  presenting  words  of  wel- 
come neatly  entwined.  Mr.  Stanley's  appearance  was  the 
signal  for  an  enthusiastic  greeting,  which  broke  forth  into 
cheers,  clapping  of  hands,  and  hurrahs. 

Colonel  F.  Anderson,  in  introducing  Mr.  Stanley,  said  that 
the  club  had  lately  welcomed  to  this  country  illustrious  for- 
eign representatives.  To  these  they  had  now  to  add  the 
reception  of  one  of  their  own  citizens,  who,  after  five  years 
of  wanderings  in  other  lands,  came  back  the  most  celebrated 
living  representative  of  travel  and  adventure  in  connection 
with  journalistic  enterprise.  Mr.  Stanley  then  spoke  in  part 
as  follows : — 


STANLEY'S  SPEECH  TO  THE  LOTUS  CLUB.       657 

"  MR.  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  LOTUS  CLUB — MEMBERS  AND  GEN- 
TLEMEN— Some  five  years  ago  I  left  New  York.  I  remember 
the  day  very  well.  Snow  and  sleet  drove  tempestuously 
through  the  air.  Through  the  Narrows  passed  the  big 
steamer,  hardly  able  to  plough  its  way  through  storm  and 
fog,  that  was  bearing  me  on  to  begin  my  mission  to  report 
the  proceedings  in  the  Abyssinian  war.  Two  or  three  days 
ago  I  returned,  and  everything  was  almost  new  to  me — new 
scenes,  new  thoughts,  and  new  people.  I  could  hardly  think, 
could  hardly  believe  that  I  had  ever  been  in  New  York 
before ;  so  changed,  so  different  did  everything  appear  to  me. 
I  could,  in  fact,  hardly  fancy  that  I  was  the  man  who  went 
out  of  New  York  five  years  before,  on  that  cold,  chilly  day 
in  December,  with  a  sort  of  presentiment  that  there  was 
something  before  me  that  might  end  rather  ruthfully  for  me 
before  I  should  return — so  different  was  my  arrival  back  the 
day  before  yesterday ! 

"  What  think  you  sent  that  steamer  and  those  kind-hearted 
gentlemen  who  met  me,  and  had  flying  out  a  red  flag,  with 
the  words,  '  Welcome  home,  Henry  M.  Stanley  ?'  It  was  the 
same  good  fortune  that  followed  my  steps  from  the  first,  and 
enabled  me  to  excel  the  English  correspondents,  and  to  send 
news  home  to  the  New  York  Herald,  the  first  that  Magdala 
was  captured  and  that  King  Theodorus  was  killed.  The 
good  fortune  that  enabled  me  to  do  this  followed  me  into 
Africa,  and  never  forsook  me — even  up  to  this  evening,  when 
you  have  assembled  to  welcome  me  home.  So  different  from 
the  reception  I  had  anticipated !  I  never  would  have  believed 
it,  even  had  I  been  told  of  it,  because  the  feeling  that  pre- 
dominated with  me  was,  as  I  returned  home : — Had  I  done 
enough  ?  Was  there  anything  left  undone  ?  Conscience  told 
me  no  ;  but  still  I  thought  that  there  were  other  people  to 
judge  of  this  besides  myself.  I  might  have  said  to  myself,  I 
have  done  enough,  after  I  reached  Zanzibar.  I  waited  there 
for  news,  and  still  I  asked  myself  the  same  question.  Then 
through  Aden  I  received  a  dispatch  from  the  Herald,  inform- 
ing me  that  the  thanks  of  Mr.  Bennett  were  sent  to  me  for 


658  STANLEY'S  SPEECH  TO  THE   LOTUS  CLUB. 

having  discovered  the  great  discoverer.  That  opened  my 
eyes. 

"  I  returned  after  that.  I  came  to  Paris  and  Marseilles, 
and  there  I  saw  the  correspondent  of  the  Daily  Telegraph, 
who  wanted  to  interview  me.  I  thought  it  strange  that  I,  a 
stranger,  should  be  sought  to  be  interviewed ;  but  Dr.  IIos- 
mer,  of  the  Herald,  told  me  to  go  through  the  process,  to  be 
calm  and  cheerful,  and  that  no  harm  could  come  to  me.  I 
went  to  Paris  and  found  people  after  me,  desiring  my  photo- 
graph, and  I  said  to  myself,  '  I  have  done  something  after 
all.' 

"Then  I  came  to  London,  rather  elated,  and  that  elation 
grew  upon  me  till  I  was  all  at  once  and  unexpectedly  dumped 
into  a  cold  bath  at  Brighton.  Lo  and  behold !  the  Royal 
Geographical  Society  was  there  assembled  in  awful  conclave. 
They  wanted  to  hear  something  of  Africa  and  Livingstone, 
and  where  I  had  seen  him.  I  went  on  to  tell  them,  till  I 
noticed  their  dark  frowns  and  suspicious  looks,  and  I  sat  down 
very  tamely  indeed,  in  the  midst  of  them.  They  had  invited 
me  to  meet  them. 

"  '  Would  you  be  kind  enough,'  they  said, '  to  meet  us,  Mr. 
Stanley,  and  tell  us  all  about  your  discovery  of  Mr.  Living- 
stone and  Tanganyika?  Let  us  know  all  about  how  Mr. 
Bennett  gave  these  $50,000  for  these  secrets  that  you  have — 
have  the  kindness  to  tell  us  all  about  them.' 

"  But  if  they  were  astonished  when  I  went  to  Brighton,  I 
was  more  astonished  that  I  was  not  going  to  get  even  thanks. 
They  said : — 

"  '  If  you  were  an  English  correspondent  you  might  receive 
favor  from  us ;  but  as  you  are  an  American  correspondent 
you  must  take  what  comes.' 

"  '  Thanks,'  I  said,  *  I  will  take  it  with  a  good  grace.' 

"  They  talked  of  Speke,  the  companion  of  Grant,  and  their 
report  of  Lake  Lualaba,  and  they  said  : — '  For  God's  sake  ! 
the  man  is  dreaming ;  he  is  a  thousand  miles  out  of  his  reck- 
oning. He  does  not  know  what  he  is  talking  about.'  " 

Mr.  Stanley  then  reviewed  in  a  very  pleasing,  yet  some- 


SPEECH  OF  WHITELAW  REID.  661 

what  caustic  style,  the  comments  and  criticisms  of  the  Geo- 
graphical Society  upon  his  reports  of  discoveries. 

Mr.  Whitelaw  Reid,  President  of  the  Lotus  Club,  then 
made  a  short  speech ;  the  following  are  extracts  from  it : — 

"  Gentlemen  of  the  Lotus — A  club  so  largely  composed  of 
journalists  and  of  members  of  the  kindred  professions,  may 
be  pardoned  a  special  pride  in  the  pluckiest  achievement  that 
adorns  the  history  of  recent  American  journalism. 

"  If  Mr.  Stanley  had  done  thte  thing  three  thousand  years 
ago,  some  old  Greek  might  have  fancied  the  quest  for  Living- 
stone as  worthy  the  loving  treatment  of  poetry  and  genius 
as  the  quest  for  a  captured  princess.  If  it  had  been  his  easier 
fortune  to  do  it  to  martial  music,  under  the  guns  of  two  con- 
tending hosts  and  the  eyes  of  a  continent,  it  might  have  been 
sung  in  the  verses  of  the  Laureate  or  embalmed  in  the  more 
stately  enlogium  of  a  Kinglake.  Or,  if  it  failed,  as  every- 
body but  its  spirited  projector  expected  it  would,  some  new 
Cervantes,  in  treating  of  this  new  Quixotic  adventure,  might 
at  least  have  paid  tribute  to  the  courage  and  devotion  to  pro- 
fessional duty  which  our  guest  displayed.  But  it  lacks  all 
glamour  of  tradition,  or  romance,  or  poetry.  It  is  the  plain 
matter-of-fact  work  of  a  New  York  newspaper  correspondent, 
lie  was  merely  told  to  go  to  the  heart  of  Africa  and  find  a 
lost  explorer,  whom  the  power  of  the  British  government  had 
failed  to  find. 

"Everybody  laughed  when  he  started  ;  everybody  laughed 
when  he  was  referred  to  while  he  was  gone.  Now  that  he 
comes  back  successful,  if  we  do  not  make  a  romantic  horo  of 
him  let  us  at  least  give  him  just  honor  for  what  he  has  done, 
and  award  just  recognition  to  that  splendid  spirit  in  modern 
journalism,  which  secures  more  unquestioning  obedience,  more 
enthusiastic  zeal  and  greater  success  than  cabinets  and  par- 
liaments were  able  to  attain." 

Mr.  Robert  B.  Roosevelt  was  then  introduced.  lie  advert- 
ed to  the  fact  that  the  community  at  large  was  deeply  indebt- 
ed to  explorers.  This  country,  for  instance,  had  to  be  dis- 
covered. "Where  would  have  been  the  United  States  had  they 


6G2  SPEECH  OF  MAYOR  HALL. 

not  been  discovered  by  Christopher  Columbus  ?  Where 
would  have  been  the  glorious  liberty  which  all  enjoyed  at  the 
present  day  ?  Where  would  have  been  the  great  Fourth  of 
July  ?  Where  would  have  been  all  those  pleasant  associations 
connected  with  it  ?  They  owed  the  discoverer  the  deepest 
obligations ;  but  to  the  discoverer  of  the  discovered,  such  as 
Mr.  Stanley  was,  they  must  show  the  heartiest  appreciation. 
The  speaker  then  adverted  in  eulogistic  terms  to  the  heroism 
displayed  by  Mr.  Stanley  in  carrying  out  the  object  of  his 
perilous  mission. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Bellows  then  came  forward,  and  was  very 
warmly  received.  lie  made  a  very  happy  speech,  and  in  the 
course  of  his  observations  referred  in  very  complimentary 
terms  to  Mr.  Stanley's  mission. 

Mayor  Hall  then  addressed  the  club.  He  began  by  alluding 
to  the  mention  made  by  Livingstone  of  seeing  natives  take 
up  from  the  Shire  River  the  roots  of  the  lotos  plant  for  win- 
ter food,  and  that  they  tasted  when  roasted  like  chestnuts. 
The  lotos  plant  would  be  plucked  tip  by  its  very  roots  to- 
night, to  let  Livingstone's  last  companion  ( Stanley  )  rule  the 
roast.  We  give  him  a  warm  welcome,  as  belongs  to  a  man 
who  one  year  ago  to-night  was  with  Livingstone  just  below 
the  equator,  lie  then  made  numerous  references  to  a  child- 
ish recollection  of  having  been  shown  as  a  great  wonder,  a 
man  who  had  been  to  the  equator.  Here  was  a  man  who 
had  found  a  very  substantial  shadow  of  the  imaginary  line. 
We  look  on  him  as  Sweden's  King  gazed  on  Swedenborg 
upon  his  return  from  the  spirit  world.  We  think  with  grat- 
itude of  his  childe's  (sic]  pilgrimage.  Indeed,  there  is  a  By- 
ronic  quotation  applicable  to  him : — 

Childe  Herald  wends  throusrh  many  a  pleasant  place, 
Thouffh  sluursards  deemed  it  hut  a  foolish  chase, 
And  marvelled  men  should  quit  their  easy  chairs, 
The  toilsome  way  and  long,  long  leagues  to  trace. 

"  Ton  remember  how  earnestly  Richmond,  in  the  play  of 
"  Richard  III.,"  inquired,  "  But  tell  me,  is  young  Stanley  liv- 
ing?" The  elder  Stanley  answers,  "  He  is,  my  lord,  and  safe 
in  Leicester  town."  We  greet  him  as  the  apotheosis  of 


A  VISIT  FROM  JOHN  LIVINGSTONE.  663 

American  pluck.  If  any  one  invents  a  new  mythology,  I  nomi- 
nate as  the  central  figure  a  demigod  of  Pluck,  who  shall  em- 
body and  unite  the  will  of  Jove,  the  strength  of  Neptune,  the 
nerve  of  Vulcan,  the  despatch  of  Mercury  and  the  ability,  like 
Pluto,  to  withstand  even  scenes  of  mental  torture. 

"A  dying  philosopher  was  asked  what  he  wished.  'Oh,  give 
me  back  my  youth !'  In  contradistinction  to  this  I  think  all 
of  us  would  rather  say,  '  Give  me  older  age  and  yet  older ; 
lengthen  out  my  span,  that  I  may  see  the  development  of 
civilization  in  Africa  fulfilled,  as  well  as  the  eloquent  prophe- 
cies of  the  Bible — that  great  Magna  Charta  of  all  the  rights 
and  privileges  of  modern  civilization — concerning  the  period 
when  all  the  waste  places  of  the  world  shall  be  made  glad  ; 
when  the  people  of  Africa  who  delight  in  war  shall  be  scat- 
tered ;  when  princes  shall  come  out  of  Egypt,  and  Ethiopia 
stretch  out  her  arms  to  God.' ': 

On  the  24th  of  November  Mr.  John  Livingstone  arrived  in 
New  York,  having  come  all  the  way  from  his  home  in  Cana- 
da expressly  to  see  the  man  who  had  brought  him  letters  from 
his  brother  and  visited  him  in  Africa. 

Mr.  Livingstone  proceeded  at  once  to  Mr.  Stanley's  hotel, 
and  was  there  introduced  to  him  by  a  mutual  friend. 

"  I  see,"  said  Stanley,  "a  good  deal  of  the  Livingstone  char- 
acteristic about  your  face,  sir." 

Mr.  Livingstone  replied : — "Yes,  I  believe  there  is  quite  a  re- 
semblance between  the  Doctor  and  myself — at  least  there  was 
when  we  were  young." 

The  conversation  very  naturally  turned  at  once  to  Dr.  Liv- 
ingstone, Stanley  assuring  Mr.  Livingstone  of  the  complete 
state  of  health  in  which  he  had  left  the  Doctor,  and  remark- 
ing that  if  there  was  any  advantage  in  physical  condition  be- 
tween the  brothers  it  was  largely  on  the  side  of  the  solitary 
geographer.  "He  is  very  spirited  and  hearty,"  continued 
Stanley,  w  and  appears  younger  than  you  do,  Mr.  Livingstone, 
although  his  beard  is  quite  gray." 

u  The  Doctor  was  always  very  hearty,  and  he  is  two  years 
younger  than  I  am,  anyway,"  replied  Mr.  Livingstone. 


664:  THE  LIVINGSTONE  SUITS  OP  MOURNING. 

Mr.  Livingstone  remained  in  New  York  several  days.  His 
home  is  in  Listowell,  about  ninety  miles  from  Hamilton,  where, 
as  a  large  sign  painted  on  a  wooden  building  announces,  he 
is  a  "dealer  in  paints,  oils,  drugs,  medicines,  varnishes,  dye- 
stuffs  &c."  He  is  of  medium  height,  well  knit  frame,  and 
his  hair  is  of  an  iron-gray  tint.  He  has  a  wife,  one 
daughter  and  five  sons. 

It  appears  by  the  following  extract  from  a  letter  brought 
by  Mr.  Stanle}",  that  the  family  had  at  one  time  supposed  the 
explorer  dead,  and  put  on  mourning  for  him  : — 

"  UJIJT,  Nov.  16,  1871. 

MY  DEAR  BROTHER — I  received  your  welcome  letter  in 
February  last,  written  when  the  cable  news  made  you  put  off 
your  suits  of  mourning.  This  was  the  first  intimation  I  had 
that  a  cable  had  been  successfully  laid  in  the  deep  Atlantic. 

"  Yery  few  letters  have  reached  me  for  years,  in  consequence 
of  my  friends  speculating  where  I  should  come  out — on  the 
West  Coast,  down  the  Nile,  or  elsewhere." 

John  Livingstone  emigrated  to  Canada  in  1840,  and 
moved  to  Listowell  about  twelve  years  ago,  transporting  his 
family  and  effects  in  a  sleigh.  There  were  then  but  few 
houses  in  the  place,  the  snow  was  deep,  and  the  road  entirely 
hidden,  so  that  the  sleigh  had  to  be  driven  around  and  among 
the  stumps  of  the  trees. 

The  American  Geographical  Society  met  on  the  evening 
of  November  27th,  in  the  crypt  of  the  Cooper  Institute,  to 
give  a  reception  to  Mr.  Stanley ;  but  owing  to  illness  he 
was  unable  to  be  present.  The  meeting,  however,  was  an 
interesting  one.  Judge  Daly  presided,  and  after  suitable 
remarks,  introduced  Mr.  William  S.  Stearns,  a  former  resident 
of  Bombay  and  a  warm  personal  friend  of  Dr.  Livingstone. 
Mr.  Stearns  said  : — 

"  Ladies  and  gentlemen  : — I  have  been  requested  to  read  to 
you  this  evening  a  letter  which  lies  before  me,  and  also  to 
make  a  few  remarks  upon  my  connection  and  acquaintance 
with  Dr.  Livingstone,  who  ia  1864:  was  as  much  a  myth  to 


RECEPTION  BY  THE  GEOGRAPHICAL  SOCIETY.  665 

me  as  he  is  to  you  to-day.  But  in  the  latter  part  of  that  year, 
I  first  became  interested  in  him. 

"  In  1865,  Dr.  Livingstone  arrived  at  Bombay  in  the  little 
steamer  Lady  Nyassa,  which  had  been  sent  out  in  sections 
from  England  to  assist  in  the  exploration  of  the  lakes  of  the 
interior  of  Africa.  After  performing  this  work  the  steamer 
was  sent  to  Zanzibar  for  sale.  . 

"  It  was  afterwards  thought  advisable  to  bring  the  vessel 
to  Bombay ;  and  so  it  came  about  that  on  the  6th  of  June, 
1 865,  the  little  steamer,  scarcely  ninety  feet  in  length,  sailed 
into  Bombay  harbor  under  the  command  and  under  the  guid- 
atace  of  the  engineer-in-chief,  Doctor  Livingstone — the  only 
other  men  on  board  being  stoker  and  a  carpenter,  with  a 
crew  made  up  of  several  coolie  boys.  The  same  indomitable 
energy  and  courage  that  had  enabled  him  to  explore  the 
interior  of  Africa  had  guided  him,  under  God  and  Providence, 
over  a  wide  waste  of  five  hundred  miles. 

"  In  1865,  I  found  myself  in  the  steamer  Peonellies,  and 
among  those  present  of  our  fellow  passengers  was  Dr.  Living- 
stone. I  made  his  acquaintance,  and  formed  a  friendship 
which  I  shall  never  forget  as  long  as  I  breathe.  On  our 
arrival  at  Bombay  and  during  his  residence  in  Bombay,  I 
had  the  pleasure  of  offering  him  a  place  under  my  roof.  He 
remained  in  Bombay  about  four  months,  and  then,  early  in 
January  1866,  he  started  for  Zanzibar  and  the  mouth  of  the 
Kovuma  River. 

"  I  will  not  attempt  any  personal  description  of"  the  Doctor, 
because  I  am  glad  to  say  that  his  duplicate  (pointing  to  Mr. 
John  Livingstone,  who  occupied  a  seat  by  the  side  of  the 
Chairman),  is  sitting  here. 

"  Many  and  many  a  time  have  I  heard  him,  with  burning 
lips  and  flashing  eyes,  tell  the  story  of  the  wrongs  and  fright- 
ful cruelties  which  he  had  seen  enacted  under  his  eyes,  and 
the  destruction  that  had  been  brought  about  in  that  country 
by  the  connivance  of  the  Portuguese  authorities.  By  the 
same  means  village  after  village  has  been  laid  waste$  and 
thousands  upon  thousands  of  people  destroyed.  I  am,  glad 
35 


666  LIVINGSTONE'S  LETTER  TO  STEARNS. 

to  see  that  the  English  government  and  that  of  this  land  has 
taken  this  matter  vigorously  in  hand,  and  I  hope  that  this 
land  of  freedom  will  assist  in  the  great  and  noble  work  of 
exterminating  this  last  vestige  of  slavery." 

Mr.  Stearns  then  read  some  extracts  from  a  letter  dated 
Nov.  1870,  which  he  had  received  from  Dr.  Livingstone. 

"  MY  DEAR  STEAKNS  : — I  have  not  a  scrap  of  paper,  and 
there  are  no  stores  within  a  round  one  thousand  miles,  so  I 
cut  a  leaf  out  of  my  Bombay  check  book,  to  offer  thanks  for 
all  your  kind  services  and  give  you  a  little  information  about 
the  work  that  has  detained  me  so  long.  "When  I  left  in  I860 
to  examine  the  watershed  of  South  Central  Africa,  I  thought 
I  could  easily  do  that,  though  it  involved  the  solution  of  the 
problem  of  the  sources  of  the  Xile,  in  about  two  years,  and 
then  begin  a  benevolent  mission  on  the  slope  back  to  the  sea. 
This  last  is  greatly  needed,  for  our  fine,  promising  mission, 
begun  by  good  Bishop  Mackenzie,  has  dwindled  into  the 
Missionary  Bishop  of  Central  Africa,  dwadling  at  Zanzibar, 
and  taking  a  peep  at  his  diocese  on  the  main  land,  some  forty 
miles  off,  with  a  telescope,  then  becoming  sick  and  going  to 
the  Scyschelles  Islands  to  recover.  He  seems  to  act  on  Bun- 
gan's  (sic)  principle  : — 

*  lie  that  fights  and  runs  away 
May  live  to  fight  another  day.' 

He  blames  me  for  his  dwadling,  says  he  was  connected  with 
my  expedition  on  the  Zambesi,  and  when  I  left  he  had  to 
follow.  It  must  be  a  failure  of  memory,  for  he  never  was 
connected  with  me  on  the  expedition  in  any  way  whatever. 
Make  me  the  Bishop  of  Central  Africa,  and  see  how  long  the 
fear  of  death  would  keep  me  out  of  my  diocese. 

"  Had  I  left  at  the  end  of  two  years  I  could  have  told  little 
more  of  this  country  of  dense  forests  and  running  rills  than 
they  did.  I  inquired  about  the  waters  till  I  was  ashamed, 
and  almost  feared  that  I  should  be  set  down  as  afflicted  with 
hydrocephalus.  Many  a  weary  foot  I  trod  ere  light  shone 
on  the  ancient  problem.  Had  I  known  all  the  hunger,  hard- 
ships, toil  and  time  involved  I  might  have  preferred  a  straigl it 


SPEECH  OF  DR.  BELLOWS.  067 

waistcoat  to  undertaking  the  task ;  but  when  I  had  engaged 
to  do  it  I  could  not  bear  the  thought  of  being  beat  by  diffi- 
culties, and  I  stuck  to  it  with  bull-dog  tenacity. 

"  I  could  finish  all  that  remains  of  the  exploration  in  four 
or  five  months  if  I  had  men  and  a  canoe.  It  is  the  western 
drainage  alone  that  detains  me  for  work.  West  of  this  are 
two  large  rivers,  each  called  Lualama.  These  unite  and  form 
a  large  lake,  which  I  am  fain  to  call  Lake  Lincoln,  in  honor 
of  him  who,  by  passing  the  amendment  to  the  United  States 
constitution,  gave  freedom  to  four  million  of  slaves.  Look- 
ing south  from  this  Lake  Lincoln,  we  have  a  remarkable 
mound  or  hill  on  the  watershed  that  gives  out  four  full-grown, 
gushing  fountains,  each  of  which  becomes  a  large  river.  One 
fountain  on  its  south  is  broad  enough  for  a  man  not  to  be 
seen  on  the  other  side.  This  is  the  source  of  the  Liambai,  or 
Upper  Zambesi.  A  smaller  one  on  the  other  side  becomes 
Lucrize,  and  far  down  Kafue,  where  it  falls  into  the  Zambesi. 

"I  wish  to  name  the  large  fountain,  the  source  of  the  Zambesi, 
after  good  Lord  Palmerston ;  one  on  the  northern  side  of  the 
mound  after  Sir  Bartle  Frere.  Lincoln,  Palmerston  and 
Frere  (in  Scinde)  have  done  more  to  abolish  slavery,  and  the 
slave-trade,  than  any  of  their  contemporaries.  Lincoln  and 
Palmerston  are  no  longer  among  us,  but  in  using  the  names 
of  these  great  and  good  men  I  am  fain  to  place,  as  it  were, 
my  poor  little  garland  of  love  on  their  tombs. 

"  The  Geographical  Society  of  New  York  has  always  hon- 
ored me.  I  need  not  say  that  I  value  their  approbation 
highly.  Will  you  give  them  extracts  from  this  ? 

DAVID  LIVINGSTONE." 

Mr.  John  Livingstone  was  then  introduced,  and  made  a 
few  appropriate  remarks.  The  concluding  speech  was  made 
by  Dr.  Bellows,  who  said  that  Africa  had  still  her  great  con- 
tribution to  make  to  humanity ;  she  was  one  of  those  great 
colonies  who  were  to  be  kept  in  reserve,  probably,  and  brought 
out  at  the  last  moment,  like  some  general  in  reserve.  It 
might  be  that  Africa  had  contributions  in  her  bosom  to  make 
for  the  general  use  of  humanity ;  perhaps  had  connected  with 


668  STANLEY  AS  A  LECTURER. 

her  history,  characteristics  which  in  the  end  might  prove 
essential  to  the  rounding  out  of  that  impartial  form  of 
humanity  which  had  been  represented  in  the  civilization  of 
the  world  hitherto.  And  if  there  was  a  place  in  the  world 
that  ought  to  have  an  interest  in  Africa,  a  place  which  had 
been  the  bone  and  sinew  of  the  principal  wealth  to  another 
country,  and  conceded  at  the  same  time  the  opportunity  of 
doing  the  principal  wrong  ever  committed  against  a  most 
innocent  set  of  conscripts,  it  was  America.  What  were  we 
going  to  do  to  show  that  we  were  not  forgetful  of  those  two 
or  three  millions  of  people  of  whom  we  had  had  the  use,  and 
whose  lives  had  been  the  road  to  our  wealth  and  to  the  wealth 
of  this  country  ?  That  was  a  question  which  he  left  them  to 
consider. 

While  in  England,  Mr.  Stanley  contracted  with  Mr.  Rull- 
mann,  of  New  York  city,  to  deliver  sixty  lectures  in  Amer- 
ica, for  which  he  was  to  be  paid  the  sum  of  $30,000.  or  $500. 
each;  he  agreeing  to  give  forty  lectures  more  at  same  price 
should  Mr.  Rullmann  desire  him  so  to  do.  His  first  entertain- 
ment under  the  above  named  arrangement  came  off  at 
Steinway  Hall,  on  the  evening  of  the  3d  of  December.  Mr. 
John  Livingstone,  Kalulu,  the  U.  S.  Flag  which  was  unfurl- 
ed at  Ujiji,  and  many  souvenirs  of  the  African  trip — spears, 
barbaric  swords,  rusty  guns,  etc — had  a  place  on  the  platform, 
and  added  to  the  interest  of  the  scene. 

" The  hall  was  full,  (says  the  Herald,}  and  though  its  hu- 
man contents  were,  perhaps  a  little  too  well  bred  to  be  very 
eagerly  enthusiastic,  they  lent  throughout  an  attention  which 
was  neither  extinguished  by  the  necessary  dryness  of  much  of 
the  material  spread  before  them,  nor  sated  by  the  bright 
glimpses  occasionally  offered  them  of  what  life  really  is 
among  the  untutored  savages  of  the  great  unknown  conti- 
nent." 

Mr.  Stanley  has  since  given  lectures  in  New  York,  Brook- 
lyn and  Boston,  with  great  success.  May  success  attend  him 
in  all  his  future  enterprises  at  home  and  abroad. 


CHAPTER  XLII. 
BIOGKAPHICAL  SKETCH  OF  HENKY  M.  STANLEY. 

WHO  is  Stanley?  Livingstone  we  know,  and  Speke, 
Burton,  Baker  and  other  African  Explorers  we  know? 
but  who  is  this  Stanley  who  so  suddenly  looms  up  as  the  discov- 
erer of  the  Great  Discoverer — the  Commissioner  of  the  Her- 
ald who  has  outstripped  all  the  Commissioners  of  the  English 
government?"  This  question  very  naturally  arises  in  the 
minds  of  all  readers,  and  we  will  endeavor  to  answer  it,  though 
the  time  has  not  yet  come  for  a  full  biography  of  the  man 
who  has  made  for  himself  a  niche  in  the  temple  of  fame,  and 
who  will  occupy  a  prominent  place  on  the  page  of  history. 

Henry  M  Stanley  has  not  yet  reached  the  limit  of  the  third 
decade  of  his  years,  and  still  his  birth-place  is  claimed  by  as 
many  cities  and  villages  as  ever  aspired  to  the  honor  of 
Homer's  nativity,  and  the  American  nativity  of  the  young 
traveler  has  even  been  disputed.  The  Carnarvon  Herald,  a 
journal  published  in  Wales,  put  in  the  claim  of  that  country 
as  follows : — 

"  "Who  do  our  readers  imagine  this  enterprising  '  Stanley  ' 
is?  We  are  glad  to  be  able  to  state  on  the  best  authority, 
that  he  is  a  young  Welshman,  who  was  born  thirty- two  years 
ago  in  the  town  of  Denbigh.  His  mother  is  alive  and  well 
at  the  present  time  and  keeps  the  public  house  known  as  the 
*  Cross  Foxes,'  St.  Asaph.  <  Stanley '  is  not  the  real  name  of 
the  eminent  explorer,  but  John  Thomas.  He  adopted  the 
name  of  Stanley  before  embarking  upon  this  daring  expedi- 
tion, and  doubtless  he  had  some  special  reason  for  doing  so. 

669 


670  STANLEY  CLAIMED  AS  A  WELSHMAN. 

This  youth  was  brought  up  in  poverty,  and  under  the  frown 
of  unfavorable  worldly  circumstances,  like  the  majority  of  the 
children  of  enterprise  and  genius.  He  emigrated  to  America, 
where  he  became  one  of  the  reporters  of  the  New  York  Her- 
ald. Mr.  Gordon  Bennett  discovered  that  he  was  an  extra- 
ordinary man  and  appointed  him  as  the  representative  of  his 
journal  with  the  Abyssinian  Expedition.  He  performed  his 
work  with  so  much  satisfaction  that  he  was  selected  to  con- 
duct the  present  romantic  search.  After  returning  from 
Abyssinia  he  paid  a  visit  to  his  mother  in  Wales ;  and  we 
believe  that  neither  Dick  Shon  Dafyddism  nor  Yankeeism 
has  tarnished  his  Celtic  disposition." 

This  "Welsh  claim  was  subsequently  modified  by  a  corre- 
spondent of  the  paper,  who  said  : — "  Mr.  Stanley's  proper 
name  is  John  Rowlands,  and  his  mother  at  the  present  time 
keeps  a  public  house  called  the  'Castle  Arms,'  close  to  St.  Hil- 
ary's church,  Denbigh,  and  not  a  house  at  St.  Asaph,  as  above 
stated.  His  grandfather  on  the  paternal  side  was  the  late  Mr. 
John  Rowlands,  farmer,  of  Segroid,  near  Denbigh,  and  on  the 
maternal  side  the  late  Mr.  Moses  Parry,  butcher,  Denbigh." 

The  New  York  Herald  disposed  of  this  foreign  claim  as 
follows  : — "  There  is  evidently  a  mistake  here.  John  Thomas 
is  not  known  to  Herald  fame.  The  person  described  in  the 
above  letter  has  possible  existence  in  the  regions  of  Bohemia ; 
but,  though  we  have  a  faint  recollection  of  having  heard  the 
aristocratic  name  before,  the  great  Ap  Thomas  is  unknown  to 
us.  Mr.  Stanley  is  neither  an  Ap  Jones  nor  an  Ap  Thomas ; 
he  is  simply  a  native  American.  Missouri,  and  not  Wales,  is 
his  birth-place.  So  the  Denbigh  lady  must  look  for  her  long- 
lost  Thomas  in  another  direction." 

Other  claims  for  the  honor  are  humorously  referred  to  in 
the  same  paper,  as  follows  : — "  In  the  interval  which  must 
elapse  before  the  arrival  of  Mr.  Stanley,  the  Herald  explorer, 
with  his  full  details  of  the  Livingstone  expedition,  the  press 
of  England  and  America  are  interesting  themselves  about  his 
birth-place  and  other  interesting  information  to  help  out  a 
biography.  Naturally,  the  first  presumption  was  that  he  was 


COMMENTS  OF  THE  HERALD.  673 

American.  He  was  born  within  bowshot  of  Bunker  Hill. 
His  grandfather  and  granduncles  '  fit  right  through  the  Revo- 
lution,' and  one  of  his  relatives,  disguised  as  an  Indian,  was 
concerned  in  the  affair  which  turned  Boston  harbor  into  a 
good-sized  tea-cup.  Hence,  it  has  been  alleged,  the  success 
Avith  which  he  gets  on  with  colored  people.  His  ancestry  was 
traced  back  to  Margaret  Stanley,  the  Queen  of  Man. 

"  He  was  also  born  in  Ohio,  and  his  ancestors  were  linked 
with  Cooper's  Leatherstocking,  and  were  the  boon  companions 
of  Daniel  Boone,  he  himself  having  studied  wild  craft  under 
Kit  Carson  and  Buffalo  Bill.  He  also  first  saw  the  light  of 
day  in  the  Old  North  State,  where  they  have  called  a  county 
after  his  forefathers,  and  the  credulous  natives,  like  the  Van- 
dals that  they  are,  have  already  carried  off  an  entire  log  hut, 
as  relics  of  the  Herald  explorer's  first  explorations  in  life. 

"  The  Kanucks  put  in  a  claim  that  one  of  his  ancestors  was 
under  the  leadership  of  Jaques  Cartier  in  his  second  voyage 
up  the  St.  Lawrence  over  three  hundred  years  ago,  and,  in 
proof  of  the  family  having  remained  in  the  miserable  country, 
the  name  of  Stanley  has  been  frequently  noticed,  they  say,  in 
the  police  records  of  the  period,  for  too  successful  trading  with 
the  habitants  and  their  neighbors,  the  Indians. 

Taking  up  this  hint,  the  French  papers  assert  that  the 
Canadians  are  in  error  ;  that  Stanley  is  a  corruption  of  Stan- 
islaus ;  that  the  last  King  of  Poland  of  that  name  had  several 
descendants  who  settled  in  France  ;  that  they  were  present  at 
the  demolition  of  the  Bastile,  and  one  of  them  held  the  plank 
on  which  Maillard  was  passed  out  to  receive  the  surrender  of 
De  Launay.  He  wanted  to  be  passed  out  himself  on  a  pole, 
to  show  his  racial  extraction.  This  was  denied  him,  and  to 
show  his  adventurous  spirit  he  ransacked  every  cabaret  on  the 
way  to  his  home  at  Montmartre,  until  he  became  fearfully 
drunk  on  his  booty ;  hence  the  tenn — soul  comme  unpolonais. 
This  was  the  grandfather  of  the  Herald's  hero. 

"  Ireland  puts  in  its  claim,  of  course,  as  it  did  to  Garibaldi, 
though  it  detested  him.  It  could  not  resist  the  temptation. 
When  a  Scotch  paper  said  his  name  was  Garret  Baldwin,  it 


674  CLAIMS  OF  NEW  YORK  AND  MISSOURI. 

retorted  by  saying  it  was  Baldwin  Garry,  and  'the  thief  o' 
the  world,'  was  born  near  the  rock  of  Cashel.  This  time  they 
locate  their  '  son  of  the  sod  '  in  that  part  of  the  island  known 
as  '  the  black  North,'  significant  to  begin  with.  He  was  a 
isheepstealer's  son  near  the  Giants'  Causeway,  and  his  youth- 
ful hours,  in  the  intervals  of  eating  the  neighbors'  mutton, 
were  spent  wondering  where  that  marvelous  causeway  could 
lead  to,  and  where  were  the  giants  that  built  it  ?  *  This  early 
training  of  mind  and  liberal  fortification  of  body  fitted  him  to 
follow  the  giant  Livingstone  over  the  African  causeway  to 
the  heathen  which  the  great  explorer  was  building.'  Wales 
next  puts  in  its  claim,  and  although  the  Welshmen  are  self- 
respecting  enough  to  omit  any  reference  to  the  traditional 
Taffy,  they  take  bolder  ground  than  any  rival  claimants." 

Although  the  Herald  states  that  Stanley  is  a  Missourian, 
Mr.  Bullman,  who  has  engaged  the  young  discoverer  to  give 
a  course  of  lectures,  says  in  the  brief  biography  found  in  his 
circular,  which  he  claims  as  authentic,  that  Stanley  was  born 
in  New  York  city.  New  York  is  a  good  place  for  the 
nativity  of  any  man,  great  or  small. 

Mr.  Rullman's  sketch  may  possibly  have  something  of  the 
sensational  in  its  character ;  it  reads  as  follows : — 

"  Henry  M.  Stanley  was  born  in  the  city  of  New  York  in 
the  year  1843.  It  is  related  that  he  ran  away  from  school 
while  yet  a  boy,  went  to  sea,  and  deserted  his  ship  at  Barce- 
lona, by  jumping  overboard  and  swimming  ashore.  He  lost 
his  bundle  of  clothing,  landed  naked,  was  taken  by  a  sentry 
and  lodged  in  the  castle.  A  captain  of  the  garrison,  taking 
compassion  on  him,  reclothed  him,  and  guided  him  through 
the  suburbs  of  Barcelonetta  to  the  high  rt>ad.  The  boy,  noth- 
ing daunted,  though  in  a  strange  land,  started  for  France, 
with  a  view  of  going  to  the  seaport  of  Marseilles.  He  had 
not  a  sou  in  his  pocket,  and,  like  Goldsmith,  begged  his  living 
as  he  traveled 

"  At  length  he  reached  the  French  frontier,  and  was  arrested 
at  Narbonne ;  but,  after  an  examination,  was  released,  and 
finally  arrived  at  Marseilles,  where  some  means  from  his 


STANLEY'S  EASTERN  TRAVELS. 

friends  were  fortunately  awaiting  him.  Finding  himself 
once  more  comfortably  circumstanced,  he  visited  almost  every 
seaport  in  Europe,  studying  and  noting  everything  as  he  went. 
As  soon  as  he  heard  of  the  breaking  out  of  the  Great  Rebel- 
lion, he  returned  to  America,  enlisted  as  a  volunteer  in  the 
Union  Army,  and  took  part  in  the  battles  of  Donelson,  Fort 
Henry,  and  Shiloh.  The  term  of  his  enlistment  having 
expired,  he  engaged  as  a  newspaper  correspondent,  was  pres- 
ent at  several  of  the  great  battles  in  the  Yalley  of  Virginia, 
and  at  the  capture  of  Fort  Fisher. 

"  After  the  conclusion  of  the  war,  Stanley  traveled  through 
the  West.  While  returning  from  this  trip  he  built  a  raft, 
and,  with  a  companion  of  about  his  own  age,  floated  down 
the  Platte  River  to  the  Missouri  River,  a  distance  of  about 
seven  hundred  miles.  He  then  returned  to  New  York.  But 
the  restlessness  of  the  confirmed  traveler  broke  out  again,  and 
with  two  American  comrades  he  started  to  take  a  trip  across 
the  whole  Asiatic  Continent.  Setting  out  from  Smyrna,  the 
party  penetrated  about  three  hundred  miles  into  the  interior, 
as  far  as  Hissar,  where  they  were  robbed  of  six  thousand  dol- 
lars by  the  Koords,  and  were  forced  to  return  for  lack  of 
means  to  pursue  their  journey.  Reaching  Constantinople, 
they  applied  for  redress,  and,  after  no  little  trouble,  obtained 
a  trial,  proved  their  case,  and  were  partially  re-imbursed. 

"  Mr.  Stanley  now  returned  to  America ;  and,  as  corres- 
pondent of  the  Missouri  Democrat  and  New  York  Tribune, 
accompanied  the  Indian  Peace  Commissions  and  Hancock's 
military  expeditions  against  the  Kiowas  and  Cheyennes. 

"  When  the  campaign  of  Lord  Napier  in  Abyssinia  began, 
the  Herald  engaged  Stanley  to  follow  the  British  Army  and 
forward  news.  It  was  during  this  campaign  that  he  illustrated 
liis  tact,  zeal,  and  indomitable  will.  Using  the  British  Army's 
own  telegraph  lines,  he  conveyed  news  to  the  New  York 
Herald  through  the  cable,  in  advance  of  its  reception  at  the 
British  War  Department.  In  the  estimation  of  both  the 
Bennetts,  father  and  son,  no  imaginable  feat  could  have 
equaled  this. 


676  SUMMONED  TO  PARIS. 

"  Mr.  Stanley  was  next  ordered  to  Crete  during  the  bloody 
rebellion,  and  again  gave  abundant  and  profitable  proof  of 
his  pluck,  judgment,  and  extraordinary  powers  of  observation. 
He  was  then  sent  to  report  the  Spanish  Revolution,  and  when 
that  was  ended,  was  despatched  to  Egypt  to  meet  Dr.  Living- 
stone, who  was  at  the  time  reported  to  be  coming  home. 
Tired  of  waiting,  Mr.  Stanley  applied  for  a  change,  and  Mr. 
Bennett  ordered  him  back  to  Spain  to  report  the  progress  of 
the  Republican  Revolution.  He  saw  the  seige  of  Valencia ; 
then,  going  to  Madrid,  received  the  telegram : — 

" '  Come  to  Paris,'  to  see  Mr.  Bennett,  Jr."  ' 

Mr.  Stanley  is  a  thick-set  man,  weighing  one  hundred  and 
sixty-five  pounds,  five  feet  eight  and  a  half  inches  high,  with 
light  gray  eyes,  a  sanguine  complexion,  a  full  resolute  coun- 
tenance on  which  self-reliance  is  plainly  imprinted,  and  of 
dignified,  manly  demeanor.  The  accurate  likeness  of  "  Stanley 
as  an  Explorer  "  found  in  this  book  speaks  for  itself. 

It  may  not  be  out  of  place  here  to  state  that  the  first 
reports  of  Stanley's  success  were  received  by  some  portions 
of  the  public  with  incredulity,  not  to  say  derision.  As  con- 
firmation came  of  the  truth  of  the  story,  one  of  the  doubt- 
ing Solomons  affirmed  very  wisely,  "  If  Livingstone  and 
Stanley  have  met,  it  was  doubtless  Livingstone  that  met 
Stanley." 

American  newspapers  were  as  incredulous  as  English  jour- 
nals. Even  after  the  publication  of  Dr.  Livingstone's  letters, 
it  was  claimed  that  they  were  not  genuine,  that  the  style  was 
not  that  of  Livingstone,  and  that  the  allusions  in  them 
proved  that  they  were  spurious,  as  they  referred  to  events 
that  happened  after  the  explorer  had  left  the  world.  Res- 
urrected men  were  not  supposed  to  be  acquainted  with 
posthumous  events.  The  retrospect  of  those  doubting  times 
is  amusing.  The  following  extracts  are  from  American 
journals : — 

"  A  very  general  suspicion  that  the  '  Stanley-Livingstone 
correspondence'  is  a  hum,  begins  to  crop  out  in  audible 
guffaws." 


INCREDULITY  OF  THE  PUBLIC.  677 

"The  numbers  of  those  who  regard  the  Herald  Living- 
stone story  as  a  hugh  humbug  are  increasing.  It  is  thought 
that  Dr.  Livingstone  could  never  have  written  such  letters  as 
those  piiblished  in  the  Herald  over  his  signature.  Think  of 
a  scientific  man,  say  Agassiz,  giving  to  the  world  such  stuff 
as  this,  as  part  of  the  fruits  of  years  of  toil." 

"  There  is  a  growing  suspicion  that  the  alleged  discovery 
of  Livingstone,  the  African  explorer,  by  Stanley  of  the  New 
York  Herald^  is  a  monstrous  sell,  only  equaled  by  the  great 
moon  hoax  of  several  years  ago." 

"  But  it  was  worse  than  naughty  to  quote  from  '  Hawthone's 
English  Notes '  about  being  '  bulbous  below  the  ribs.'  Inas- 
much as  the  book  which  he  quotes  so  glibly  was  not  published 
until  after  the  Doctor's  disappearance,  we  are  at  loss  to 
account  for  his  acquaintance  with  its  contents.  Could  he 
have  got  it  from  the  Book  and  News  Company  of  Unyan- 
yembe  or  trifled  with  its  pages  at  the  circulating  library  of 
Ugogo!" 

"  A  war  is  raging  fiercely  in  Africa  between  the  Kings  Oko- 
Jurnbo,  supposed  to  be  a  relation  to  Mumbo  Jumbo,  and  Ja- 
Ja.  The  general  of  the  former,  Warrabo,  has  been  defeated 
by  the  latter,  and  all  the  prisoners  taken  were  roasted  and 
eaten.  Meanwhile  the  war  goes  on  fiercely,  and  the  hills  and 
vales  echo  with  the  sound  of  clashing  arms,  and  the  smoke 
of  roasting  captives  sickens  the  noonday  sky.  All  Africa 
stands  aghast  and  watches  with  breathless  interest  the  move- 
ments of  the  rival  armies  on  the  banks  of  Andony. 

Long  before  this  "  Stanley  "  has  probably  made  his  appear- 
ance on  the  field  as  a  war  correspondent,  and  we  shall  not  be 
surprised  to  hear  from  Dr.  Livingstone,  on  his  return,  that 
barbarian  ignorance  of  the  rights  of  neutrals  has  given  the 
venturesome  reporter  a  prominent  but  most  undesirable  place 
at  one  of  these  feasts." 

Among  others  who  were  skeptical  of  Stanley 'sachievments 
was  Mr.  Lewis  IL  Noe  of  Sayville,  Long  Island,  who  was  a 
companion  of  Stanley  in  his  journeyings  in  Asia  in  1866, 
and  who  published  in  the  New  York  Sun  a  baker's  dozen  of 


678  WHAT  NOE  CLAIMS  TO  KNOW. 

charges,  which  are  given  that  the  reader  may  see  both  sides 
of  the  story. 

"  1.     That  Stanley  was  a  deserter  from  the  United  States 
Navy  in  1865,  and  induced  me,  a  boy,  to  desert  with  him. 

2.  That  he  forged  a  pass  while  the  frigate  Minnesota  was 
lying  at  Portsmouth,  N.  II.,  by  which  we  were  enabled  to 
pass  the  gates  of  the  navy  yard. 

3.  That   he   tried  to    induce  me   to   become   a  bounty 
jumper. 

4.  That  a  year  afterward  he  falsely  represented  to  my 
parents  and  myself  that  he  possessed  the  means  to  go  on  an 
extended  tour  in  Asia,  and  induced  my  parents  to  consent  to 
my  accompanying  him. 

5.  That  on  learning  at  Smyrna  the  desperate  character  of 
the  journey   he   had  projected — he   being   utterly   without 
means — because  I  attempted  to  leave  him  soon  after  starting, 
he  most  cruelly  whipped  me  on  my  bare  back. 

6.  That  he  compelled  me  to  beg  and  steal  the  food  and 
supplies  we  used  during  some  three  hundred  miles  of  our 
journey. 

7.  That  he  attempted  to  murder  an  old  Turk  whom  we 
overtook  on  the  route,  with  a  view  to  robbing  him. 

8.  That  though  he  failed  to  kill  the  Turk,  he  robbed  him 
of  his  horses,  and  made  me  an  accessory  to  the  crime. 

9.  That  he  committed  perjury  at  Broussa  and  at  Constan- 
tinople. 

10.  That  he  gave  a  jvorthless    draft   on   a   suppositious 
father  in  New  York,  to  the  American  Minister  at  Constanti- 
nople, the  Hon.  E.  Joy  Morris,  in  exchange  for  money  equal 
to  several  hundred    dollars,  which    that  gentleman   kindly 
loaned  him  from  his  private  means  in  our  distress. 

11.  That  he  clandestinely  left  Constantinople,  taking  me 
with  him,  purposely  avoiding  to  inform  Mr.  Morris  of  his 
intention  to  leave,  or  where  we  were  going. 

12.  That  he  represented  himself  to  be  an  American  when 
he  was  a  Welshman,  and  had  always  lired  in  Wales  until  he 
was  fifteen  years  of  age. 


STANLEY'S  LETTER  TO  XOE. 


679 


13.  That  his  real  name  is  John  Rowland,  and  that  Henry- 
Stanley  is  an  alias  that  he  assumed  after  coming  to  America." 

That  Stanley  and  Noe  were  once  intimate  friends  Noe  fur- 
nished abundant  proofs  of,  including  a  letter,  of  which  a  fac- 
simile is  here  given. 


<fi. 


X 


d~*~  'S*^-**-*^****^ 


«4^t_*^4 


680  STANLEY  ON  NOE. 

In  reply  to  newspaper  incredulity  and  the  charges  made 
by  Mr.  Noe,  Mr.  Stanley  published  a  letter  which  is  given 
below,  excepting  a  portion  of  it  in  which  abundant  proofs 
were  given  that  he  had  found  Livingstone. 

No.  8  DUCHESS  STREET,  PORTLAND  PLACE,  ) 
LONDON,  Sspt.  13,  1872.      f 
JAMES  GORDON  BENNETT,  ESQ.  : — 

DEAR  SIR — Your  agent  in  this  city  to-day  kindly  sent  me 
three  copies  of  a  newspaper  published  in  the  city  of  New 
York,  bearing  the  dates  respectively  of  the  24th,  30th  and 
31st  of  August  of  the  present  year.  It  would  be  a  difficult 
matter  for  me  to  describe  the  conflicting  emotions  I  felt 
during  the  perusal  of  certain  articles  found  therein.  My  first 
feelings  were  those  of  profound  astonishment  at  the  discov- 
ery of  so  debased  a  character  as  this  wretched  young  man, 
Noe,  turns  out  to  be.  He  proclaims  himself  the  victim  of  a 
foul  and  unnatural  outrage,  gives  his  name  in  full,  with  his 
present  address;  he  dwells  fondly  on  the  disgusting  details 
which  unmanned  him,  offers  himself  up  voluntarily  to  public 
scorn  and  contempt,  and  deliberately  stamps  himself  as  the 
greatest  moral  idiot  in  existence.  I  then  felt  regret  at  dis- 
covering the  fact  that  there  was  a  newspaper  in  the  city  of 
New  York  which  could  lend  itself  for  the  publication  of 
such  a  disgusting,  immoral  letter  as  the  one  purporting  to 
be  written  by  Lewis  H.  Noe,  and  exhibit  a  morbid  delight 
in  every  circumstance  and  detail  of  this  most  shameless  story. 

To  enter  upon  a  detailed  refutation  of  the  various  charges 
and  accusations  falsely  levelled  at  me  by  this  eccentric  youth 
would  be  undignified  and  unworthy  of  me ;  it  would  but 
serve  to  bring  the  contemptible  newspaper  and  its  unmanly 
correspondent  into  greater  prominence  than  they  deserve. 
I  content  myself  with  simply  asserting  that  the  statements  of 
this  man  ]Sroe,  in  so  far  as  they  refer  to  me,  consist  of  a  series 
of  the  most  atrocious  falsehoods  that  the  most  imaginative 
villain  could  have  devised  to  the  detriment  of  any  one  man's 
reputation. 

They  are  oft-recurring  questions  to  me,  "  Wherein  have  I 


STANLEY  ON  XOE.  681 

incurred  any  man's  hostility  ?  "Why  should  people  attack  my 
private  character  ?  How  have  I  injured  any  person  so  much 
as  to  induce  him  to  vilify  me  in  this  manner  ?"  It  is  with 
the  utmost  confidence  that  I  can  reply  that,  intentionally,  I 
have  never  injured  any  living  man. 

In  the  summer  of  1866  I  took  this  boy  as  a  kind  of  com- 
panion, who  was  to  make  himself  generally  useful.  A  few 
miles  east  of  Smyrna  the  young  rascal  set  fire  to  a  valuable 
grove  belonging  to  some  Turks,  who  were  so  enraged  at 
the  incendiary  act  that  myself  and  companions  were  in  dan- 
ger of  our  lives ;  upon  which,  after  mollifying  the  anger  of 
the  natives,  I  punished  the  young  villain  with  a  few  strokes 
of  a  switch,  a  far  lighter  punishment  than  he  deserved,  as 
any  sensible  man  will  at  once  admit.  Near  Chihissar  the 
chief  of  a  gang  of  brigands  which  infested  the  environs  of 
Ofium  Karahissar  insulted  him,  upon  which,  in  my  indigna- 
tion, I  struck  him  with  my  sword.  He  immediately  raised 
such  an  outcry  that  I  was  compelled  to  order  my  companions 
to  mount  and  hurry  away;  but,  in  our  ignorance  of  the 
country,  we  rode  direct  into  the  neighborhood  of  the  robber's 
den,  and  were  consequently  captured  without  much  trouble. 
The  indignities  and  outrages  which  the  ruffians  subsequently 
visited  upon  a  member  of  our  party  need  not  be  repeated 
here,  but  I  may  mention  that  I  was  the  one  who  was  instru- 
mental in  relieving  my  party  from  all  apprehensions  of  a 
worse  fate. 

Now  possibly  this  boy — now  a  man  in  years  at  least — 
remembers  the  slight  flogging  I  administered  to  him,  and, 
stung  by  the  memory  of  it,  has  proposed  to  himself  that  the 
author  of  it,  having  in  some  way  distinguished  himself  by  the 
discovery  of  Dr.  Livingstone,  might  now  be  made  to  feel  his 
resentment,  and  proceeds  to  do  so  by  investing  him  with  a 
Satanic  character;  with  all  the  attributes  of  a  'bold  and 
unscrupulous,  daring,  but  intelligent  and  specious  adventurer.' 
Positively,  if  I  thought  the  young  wretch  who  wantonly  set 
fire  to  the  Turk's  grove  near  Smyrna  and  endangered  his  own 
and  our  lives  was  insane,  I  think  him  ten  times  more  so  now 


682  THE  CONTROVERSY  RENEWED. 

by  hurrying  into  print,  to  glory  in  his  shamelessness  and 
make  public  what  the  most  debased  courtesan  in  any  great 
city  would  never  have  published. 

But  enough  of  this  abominable  fraud,  with  his  series  of 
absurd  fictions.  Let  me  dilate  a  little  upon  the  accusations 
leveled  at  me  about  the  Livingstone's  letters. 

********* 

But  if,  after  the  receipt  of  this  letter,  there  may  be  unbe- 
lievers still,  my  advice  to  them  is  to  form  another  expedition 
for  Central  Africa  and  find  out  from  Livingstone  himself, 
whether  the  letters  I  brought  are  genuine  or  not.  Then,  per- 
haps, if  they  live  to  come  back  to  tell  their  story,  they  must 
bear  witness  to  my  veracity  at  least,  if  to  nothing  else.  In 
the  meantime  sir,  I  would  ask  whether  you  ever  found  cause 
to  repent  of  your  confidence  in  me,  or  had  reason  to  suspect 
in  the  least  my  truthfulness  and  integrity  ?  If  you  can  con- 
scientiously answer  '  No !'  I  shall  feel  amply  rewarded  and 
need  no  more.  I  remain,  sir,  your  most  humble  servant, 

HENKY  M.  STANLEY." 

The  controversy  as  to  Mr.  Stanley's  birth-place  seems  likely 
to  be  renewed.  A  late  number  of  the  Manchester  (England) 
Guardian  says  that  "  a  London  publisher  has  given  to  the 
world  a  book  called  'the  Story  of  Henry  M.  Stanley's  early 
Life,'  the  author  of  which  claims  to  have  proved,  on  the 
evidence  of  '  parish  registers,  sisters,  brothers  and  a  mother,' 
that  its  hero  '  was  born  in  Denbigh,'  and  was  assisted  '  in 
humble  circumstances '  by  relatives  who  '  think  that  at  least  a 
trifle  of  his  lustre  may  fall  upon  them.'  This  scraping 
together  of  real  or  fancied  particulars  respecting  the  private 
circumstances  of  a  person  who  has  had  the  misfortune  to 
attain  some  celebrity  is  justified  on  the  ground  that  '  writing 
any  man's  life  is  allowable.'  Mr.  Hotten  conceives  himself 
to  have  proved  that  Mr.  Stanley  is  not  an  American.  "We 
are  tempted  to  hope  somebody  may  be  equally  successful  in 
proving  that  Mr.  Hotten  is  not  an  Englishman." 


WIIL 

to  illustrate 
SIR  SPEAKER'S  ROUTES 

AND  DISCOVERIES 


CHAPTER  XLIII. 
SPEKE  AND  GRANT'S  EXPEDITION. 

ON  the  27th  of  April,  1860,  Captain  Speke,  accompanied 
by  Captain  Grant  an  old  friend  and  brother  sportsman 
of  his,  sailed  from  Portsmouth,  England,  for  another  expe- 
dition into  Central  Africa.  In  former  chapters  we  have 
followed  him  over  the  route  from  Kaole  to  Ujiji,  nearly  the 
same  since  passed  over  by  Stanley  in  his  search  for  Living- 
stone ;  we  therefore  omit  all  detail  of  the  journey  from 
Zanzibar  to  Unyanyembe,  simply  observing  that  he  and 
Captain  Grant  left  Bagamoyo  on  the  2nd  of  October,  1860, 
with  one  hundred  and  one  pagazis  or  porters,  among  whom 
was  the  now  well  known  Bombay  and  his  brother  Mabruki, 
both  of  whom  had  accompanied  Speke  on  his  former 
expeditions. 

They  arrived  at  Kaze  on  the  24th  of  January,  1861.  From 
here,  on  his  last  trip,  Speke  went  on  the  excursion  mentioned 
in  a  previous  chapter,  which  resulted  in  the  discovery  of  the 
Victoria  N'yanza.  His  course  then  had  been  almost  directly 
north;  but  now,  although  going  northerly,  our  travelers 
bore  to  the  west  of  Speke's  former  course. 

Their  first  stop  was  at  the  village  of  Ukulima,  a  noted 
chief,  who  is  described  as  a  very  kind  and  good  man,  although 
lie  practised  sticking  the  heads  and  hands  of  his  victims  on 
the  poles  of  his  boma  or  dwelling  as  a  warning  to  others,  and 
although  he  exacted  four  yards  of  cloth  from  Grant  for 
walking  round  the  body  of  a  dead  lioness — as  thereby  he  des- 
troyed a  protective  charm  which  could  be  restored  only  by 
paying  the  four  yards  of  cloth.  Ukulima  kept  five  wives,, 
36  683 


SPEKE  AND  GRANT'S  EXPEDITION. 

the  older  exacting  and  receiving  great  respect  from  the 
younger.  At  a  grand  ball  given  by  Ukulima  upon  the  visit 
of  another  chieftain  to  which  Grant  was  invited,  he  had  the 
honor  of  dancing  with  the  chiefs  favorite  wife,  a  pleasure  but 
few  white  men  have  enjoyed. 

Leaving  Grant  with  Bombay  at  this  village,  Speke  pro- 
ceeded northwesterly  into  Uzinza,  where  he  was  subjected 
to  such  a  series  of  extortions  from  chiefs  and  sub-chiefs,  and 
such  opposition  on  the  part  of  his  men  to  going  forward, 
that  he  was  obliged  to  store  his  goods  in  a  "  boma,"  and 
leave  them  in  charge  of  Baraka,  his  captain,  and  return  to 
Grant,  at  Ukulima's  village,  and  from  there  to  Kaze. 

Obtaining  more  men  he  again  started,  and  reached  Uzinza 
to  find  his  goods  broken  into  and  partly  sold  by  Baraka,  his 
man  ;  and  to  be  again  subjected  to  the  whims  and  exactions 
of  a  chief  named  Lumeresi,  from  July  until  October.  To 
submit  and  pay  one  hongo  or  tribute  was  to  open  the  door 
for  anothgr.  The  following  from  Speke's  own  account, 
illustrates  the  state  of  affairs  : — 

"  23d  to  31.  Next  morning  I  was  too  weak  to  speak  mod- 
erately, and  roared  more  like  a  madman  than  a  rational  being, 
as,  breaking  his  faith,  he  persisted  in  bullying  me.  The  day 
after,  I  took  pills  and  blistered  my  chest  all  over ;  still 
Lumeresi  would  not  let  me  alone,  nor  come  to  any  kind  of 
terms  until  the  25th,  when  he  said  he  would  take  a  certain 
number  of  pretty  common  cloths  for  his  children  if  I  would 
throw  in  a  red  blanket  for  himself.  I  jumped  at  this  conces- 
sion with  the  greatest  eagerness,  paid  down  my  cloths  on  the 
spot,  and,  thinking  I  was  free  at  last,  ordered  a  hammock  to 
be  slung  on  a  pole,  that  I  might  leave  the  next  day.  Next 
morning,  however,  on  seeing  me  actually  preparing  to  start, 
Lumeresi  found  he  could  not  let  me  go  until  I  increased  the 
tax  by  three  more  cloths,  as  some  of  his  family  complained 
that  they  had  got  nothing.  After  some  badgering,  I  paid 
what  he  asked  for,  and  ordered  the  men  to  carry  me  out  of 
the  palace  before  any  thing  else  was  done,  for  I  would  not 
sleep  another  night  where  I  was.  Lumeresi  then  stood  in 


FROM  UZKZA  TO  USUI.  687 

my  way,  and  said  lie  would  never  allow  a  man  of  his  country 
to  give  me  any  assistance  until  I  was  well,  for  he  could  not 
bear  the  idea  of  hearing  it  said  that,  after  taking  so  many 
cloths  from  me,  he  had  allowed  me  to  die  in  the  jungles,  and 
dissuaded  my  men  from  obeying  my  orders." 

Grant,  also,  in  attempting  to  move  forward  and  join  Speke, 
was  robbed  and  plundered  of  nearly  all  the  goods  he  carried. 
Speke  and  Grant  finally  passed  the  borders  of  Uzinza,  into 
Usui— out  of  the  frying-pan  into  the  fire— for  here  such  lev- 
ies were  made  upon  them,  as  caused  them  to  tremble  arf 
they  gazed  upon  their  waning  stores.  Here  too,  war  broke 
out  between  Bombay  and  Baraka.  The  latter  had  picked 
up  a  wif-  on  the  road,  as  had  many  others  among  the  ser- 
vants ;  but  not  so  with  Bombay— he  had  no  wife.  Falling  in 
love  with  a  damsel  who  favored  his  suit,  he  purloined  a  large 
lot  of  wire-cloth  and  beads  from  his  master,  and  handed  the 
same  to  the  proposed  father-in-law,  in  payment  for  the  girl, 
but  he  demanded  more.  It  was  given  him,  when  the  scoun- 
drel still  asked  for  more.  Baraka  discovered  the  theft  and 
disclosed  it  to  Speke.  Bombay,  called  to  account,  denied  the 
charge.  Baraka  insisted  ;  when  Bombay  declared  he  should 
get  the  worst  of  it,  "  for  Baraka's  tongue  was  a  yard  long, 
and  his  only  an  inch."  He  acknowledged  he  took  the  things, 
but  would  not  have  done  it  to  buy  slaves  or  to  make  him- 
self rich — "  but  when  it  comes  to  a  wife,"  said  he,  "  that's  a 
different  thing."  Poor  fellow !  he  lost  his  intended  bride  and 
contented  himself  with  the  sister  of  a  fellow  servant  who 
accompanied  them,  whom  he  purchased  on  credit,  promising 
to  pay  for  her  a  certain  price  out  of  his  pay,  and  return  her 
to  her  brother  at  the  end  of  the  journey. 

But  miseries  have  an  end  as  well  as  pleasures,  and  our  trav- 
elers in  passing  from  Usui  into  Karague,  found  a  land — as 
compared  with  those  they  had  passed  through — literally  flow- 
ing with  milk  and  honey. 

Pitching  their  camp  under  some  trees,  they  were  greeted 
by  an  officer  named  Kachuchu  sent  by  the  King  to  meet 
them ;  this  was  his  message : — 


688  STEKE  AXD  GRANT'S  EXPEDITION* 

"  Utunanika  has  ordered  me  to  bring  you  on  to  his  palace 
at  once,  and,  wherever  you  stop  a  day,  the  village  officers  are 
instructed  to  supply  you  with  food  at  the  king's  expense,  for 
there  are  no  taxes  gathered  from  strangers  in  the  Kingdom 
of  Karague.  Presents  may  be  exchanged,  but  the  name  of 
tax  is  ignored." 

This  was  the  taste  of  a  feast  our  travelers  enjoyed  in  Kar- 
ague. Honors  were  showered  upon  them  in  all  directions. 
The  first  greetings  of  the  king  when  they  met  him  were 
warm  and  affecting  and  the  travelers  saw  at  a  glance  they 
were  in  the  company  of  men  unlike  the  natives  of  the  sur- 
rounding districts.  They  had  fine  oval  faces,  large  eyes  and 
high  noses,  and  shook  hands  in  the  English  fashion.  Every- 
thing was  put  at  the  disposal  of  the  guests,  and  every  opportu- 
nity given  them  for  observations. 

Still,  this  prince  endeavored  to  bribe  them  to  kill  his  brother 
by  magic,  as  he  feared  his  intrigues  to  obtain  the  throne.  He 
also  had  five  wives,  fattened  so  they  could  not  rise.  The  fol- 
lowing is  Speke's  story  of  a  visit  to  a  gister-in-law  of  the 
king. 

"  She  was  another  of  those  wonders  of  obesity,  unable  to 
stand  excepting  on  all  fours.  I  was  desirous  to  obtain  a 
good  view  of  her,  and  actually  to  measure  her,  and  induced 
her  to  give  me  facilities  for  doing  so  by  offering  in  return  to 
show  her  a  bit  of  my  naked  legs  and  arms.  The  bait  took  as 
I  wished  it,  and  after  getting  her  to  sidle  and  wriggle 
into  the  middle  of  the  hut,  I  did  as  I  promised,  and  then 
took  her  dimensions,  as  noted  below.*  All  of  these  are 
exact  except  the  height ;  I  believe  I  could  have  obtained  this 
more  accurately  if  I  could  have  had  her  laid  on  the  floor. 
Not  knowing  what  difficulties  I  should  have  to  contend  with 
in  such  a  piece  of  engineering,  I  tried  to  get  her  height  by 
raising  her  up.  This,  after  infinite  exertions  on  the  part  of 
us  both,  was  accomplished,  when  she  sank  down  again,  faint- 
ing, for  her  blood  had  rushed  into  her  head.  Meanwhile,  the 

*  Round  the  arm,  1  foot  1 1  inches ;  chest,  4  feet  4  inches ;  thigh,  2  feet  7 
inches ;  calf,  1  foot  8  inches ;  height,  5  feet  3  inches. 


RUMANIKA'3  PRIYATH  BAND. 


MUSIC  AT  KARAGUE.  691 

daughter,  a  lass  of  sixteen,  eat  stark-naked  before  us,  sucking 
at  a  milk-pot,  on  which  the  father  kept  her  at  work  by  hold- 
ing a  rod  in  his  hand ;  for  as  fattening  is  the  first  duty  of  fash- 
ionable female  life,  it  must  be  duly  enforced  by  the  rod  if 
necessary.  I  got  up  a  bit  of  a  flirtation  with  missy,  and 
induced  her  to  rise  and  shake  hands  with  me.  Her  features 
were  lovely,  but  her  body  was  round  as  a  ball." 

Rumanika  the  king  on  learning  that  it  was  usual  for  our 
travelers  to  feast  on  Christmas  day,  sent  them  an  ox,  and 
regretted  that  his  people  were  not  instructed  in  the  rites  of 
the  day,  and  hoped  white  teachers  would  yet  make  it  right. 
In  conversations  on  astronomy,  he  asked  if  the  sun  he  saw 
one  day  was  the  same  he  saw  the  next ;  or  a  new  one.  He 
was  much  interested  in  the  stories  told  of  London,  and  wished 
Speke  to  take  two  of  his  boys  with  him  and  educate  them. 

The  Karagues  are  fond  of  music,  and  exhibit  considerable 
musical  talent.  They  have  several  stringed  instruments, 
bugles,  drums  &c.  The  king  at  Speke's  request,  sent  to  him 
the  best  player  he  knew.  The  man  boldly  entered  without 
introduction,  dressed  in  the  usual  Wanyambo  costume,  and 
looked  a  wild,  excited  creature.  After  resting  his  spear 
against  the  roof  of  the  hut,  he  took  a  nanga,  a  kind  of  guitar 
from  under  his  arm,  and  commenced.  As  he  sat  upon  a  mat 
with  his  head  averted,  he  sang  something  of  his  having  been 
sent  to  the  white  man,  and  of  the  favorite  dog  Keeromba. 
The  wild  yet  gentle  music  and  words  attracted  a  crowd  of 
admirers,  who  sang  the  dog-song  for  days  afterwards,  as 
Speke  encored  it  several  times. 

Kumanika  had  a  special  military  band  comprised  of  sixteen 
men,  fourteen  of  whom  had  bugles  and  the  other  two  carried 
hand-drums.  They  formed  in  three  ranks,  the  drummers 
being  in  the  rear,  and  played  on  the  march,  swaying  their 
bodies  in  time  to  the  music,  and  the  leader  advancing  with  a 
curiously  active  step,  in  which  he  touched  the  ground  with 
each  knee  alternately. 

While  receiving  these  honors  from  the  good  King  of  the 
Karagues,  Moula,  an  officer  from  Mtesa  the  King  of  Uganda, 


C92  SPEKE  AND  GRANT'S  EXPEDITION. 

appeared  with  a  large  escort,  with  orders  to  accompany  the 
white  men  to  his  camp.  Grant  was  at  the  time  quite  ill,  but 
it  was  determined  that  Speke  should  go  on  at  once. 

Victoria  N'yanza  is  shaped  like  a  top,  its  northern  end  almost 
on  a  line  with  the  Equator,  covering  nearly  three  degrees 
of  longitude,  and  its  eastern  and  western  boundaries  tapering 
down  to  a  point  at  about  3P  S.  latitude.  This  lake  is  3740 
feet  above  the  level  of  the  ocean,  and  is  studded  with  islands. 
Speke,  in  his  discovery  of  the  lake,  only  reached  the  southern 
extremity  or  point  of  it,  and  got  but  a  faint  idea  of  its  immense 
size. 

His  course  then  from  Kaze  had  been  almost  due  north.  In  this 
trip  he  bore  more  to  the  westward,  which  carried  him  almost 
parallel  with  the  western  shore  of  the  lake,  but  quite  a  dis~- 
tance  from  it.  From  Karague  he  bore  towards  the  east,  and 
struck  the  lake  about  1°  south  of  the  Equator.  Following 
the  shore  up,  he  crossed  the  Equator,  then  turned  east  along 
the  northern  end  of  the  lake — the  shore  running  almost  due 
east  from  this  point.  Uganda  is  the  northern  boundary  of  the 
lake,  and  to  reach  its  capital  Speke  passed  over  nearly  half  the 
extent  of  the  lake,  going  parallel  with  it. 

He  arrived  at  this  place  in  February  1862,and  was  received  by 
Mtesa,  the  king,  in  a  most  cordial  manner.  His  experiences 
in  this  country  were  of  the  most  interesting  nature.  IViiesa 
was  a  singular  character,  full  of  whims  and  oddities,  capricious 
as  any  city  belle.  Speke  managed  to  get  up  quite  a  flirtation 
with  the  head  queen.  He  assumed  the  role  of  a  foreign  prince, 
and  insisted  upon  being  received  as  such,  claiming,  that  lodg- 
ing in  the  king's  palace  was  his  right.  He  also  administered 
medicine  to  the  queen,  and  became  quite  noted  as  a  medical 
practitioner.  The  king  had  a  large  harem,  and  Speke  thus 
speaks  of  an  addition  to  it : — 

"  Then  twenty  naked  virgins,  the  daughters  of  "Wakungn, 
all  smeared  and  shining  with  grease,  each  holding  a  small 
square  of  mbugu  for  a  fig-leaf,  marched  in  a  line  before  us, 
as  a  fresh  addition  to  the  harem,  while  the  happy  fathers 


ARREST  OF  THE  yUtEN. 


DEPLETING  THE  HAREM.  695 

floundered   n'yanzigging  on  the  ground,  delighted  to  find 
their  darlings  appreciated  by  the  king." 

His  method  of  depleting  his  harem  was  also  a  novel  one. 
Speke  thus  describes  it.  Speaking  of  a  visit  of  the  king  and 
his  suite  to  the  N'yanza,  he  says : — 

"  Next,  the  whole  party  took  a  walk,  winding  through  the 
trees,  and  picking  fruit,  enjoying  themselves  amazingly,  till, 
by  some  unlucky  chance,  one  of  the  royal  wives,  a  most 
charming  creature,  and  truly  one  of  the  best  of  the  lot, 
plucked  a  fruit  and  offered  it  to  the  king,  thinking  doubtless, 
to  please  him  greatly ;  but  he,  like  a  madman,  flew  into  a 
towering  passion,  said  it  was  the  first  time  a  woman  ever 
had  the  impudence  to  offer  him  any  thing,  and  ordered  the 
pages  to  seize,  bind,  and  lead  her  off  to  execution. 

"  These  words  were  no  sooner  uttered  by  the  king  than 
the  whole  bevy  of  pages  slipped  their  cord  turbans  from  their 
heads,  and  rushed  like  a  pack  of  cupid  beagles  upon  the  fairy 
queen,  who,  indignant  at  the  little  urchins  daring  to  touch 
her  majesty,  remonstrated  with  the  king,  and  tried  to  beat 
them  off  like  flies,  but  was  soon  captured,  overcome,  and 
dragged  away,  crying,  in  the  names  of  the  kamraviona  and 
mzungu  (myself),  for  help  and  protection ;  while  Lubnga,  the 
pet  sister,  and  all  the  other  women,  clasped  the  king  by  his 
legs,  and,  kneeling,  implored  forgiveness  for  their  sister. 
The  more  they  craved  for  mercy  the  more  brutal  he  became, 
till  at  last  he  took  a  heavy  stick  and  began  to  belabor  the 
poor  victim  on  the  head." 

Speke  was  furnished  with  wives  which  he  could  not  refuse 
to  accept,  and  the  queen  proposed  to  give  him  one  or  more 
of  her  own  daughters,  in  fact  so  much  attached  did  the 
king  and  his  court  become  to  Speke,  that  it  was  with  diffi- 
culty he  could  get  them  to  listen  to  any  proposition  for  his 
proceeding.  Eventually  Grant  was  able  to  leave  Karague, 
and  joined  him,  and  at  a  grand'levee  held  for  the  purpose, 
Speke  introduced  him  to  the  queen.  He  thus  describes  the 
scene : — 

"  The  queen,  squatting  within  her  hut,  now  ordered  both 
Grant  and  myself  to  sit  outside  and  receive  a  present  of*  five 


696  SPEKE  AND  GRANT'S  EXPEDITION. 

eggs  and  one  cock  each,  saying  coaxingly,  '  These  are  for  my 
children.'  Then  taking  out  the  presents,  she  learned  the  way 
of  wearing  her  watch  with  a  tape  guard  round  her  neck, 
reposing  the  instrument  in  her  bare  bosom,  and  of  opening 
and  shutting  it,  which  so  pleased  her  that  she  declared  it 
quite  satisfactory.  The  key  was  quite  a  minor  consideration, 
for  she  could  show  it  to  her  attendants  just  as  well  without 
one.  The  towel  and  handkerchiefs  were  also  very  beautiful, 
but  what  use  could  they  be  put  to  ?  '  Oh,  your  majesty,  to 
wipe  the  mouth  with  after  drinking  pombe.'  '  Of  course,'  is 
the  reply — '  excellent ;  I  won't  use  a  mbugu  napkin  any  more, 
but  have  one  of  these  placed  on  my  cup  when  it  is  brought  to 
drink,  and  wipe  my  mouth  with  it  afterward.  But  what  does 
Bana  want  ?'  '  The  road  to  Gani,'  says  Bombay  for  me." 

The  queen  promised  to  use  her  influence  to  get  the  king's 
permission  for  them  to  proceed  on  their  journey  northerly, 
but  it  was  not  until  July  that  they  obtained  it. 

Availing  themselves  of  the  first  opportunity,  they  pushed 
easterly  forty  miles,  and  discovered  the  Ripon  Falls,  caused 
by  the  Nile  flowing  out  of  the  lake.  These  falls  are  about 
twelve  feet  high  and  four  hundred  and  fifty  feet  wide,  and  are 
described  as  being  very  beautiful.  Here  our  travelers  made 
rafts,  and  started  on  a  voyage  down  the  Nile,  but  came  near 
being  overwhelmed  by  a  party  of  Wanyoro  who  attacked  them. 
Powder  and  shot  prevailed,  however,  and  the  way  was  cleared 
into  Unyoro,  the  country  over  which  reigned  Kamrasi,  the 
"  father  of  kings." 

This  monarch  was  more  capricious  if  possible  than  Mtesa. 
He  postponed  seeing  Speke  and  Grant  from  day  to  day,  until 
they  threatened  to  blacken  their  faces  aud  cut  off  their  hair  if 
he  longer  delayed.  This  threat  had  its  effect,  and  a  levee 
was  held,  at  which  our  travelers  presented  their  presents, 
which  they  opened,  and  placed  upon  a  red  blanket.  "  The 
goggles  created  some  mirth ;  so  did  the  scissors,  as  Bombay, 
to  show  their  use,  clipped  his  beard ;  and  the  lucifers  were 
considered  a  wonder ;  but  the  king  scarcely  moved  or  uttered 
any  remarks  till  all  was  over,  when,  at  the  instigation  of  the 
courtiers,  my  chronometer  was  asked  for  and  shown.  This 


ON  THE  NILE.  699 

wonderful  instrument,  said  tlie  officers  (mistaking  it  for  my 
compass),  was  the  magic  horn  by  which  the  white  men  found 
their  way  everywhere.  Kamrasi  said  he  must  have  it ;  for, 
besides  it,  the  gun  was  the  only  thing  new  to  him.  The 
chronometer,  however,  I  said,  was  the  only  one  left,  and 
could  not  possibly  be  parted  with ;  though,  if  Kamrasi  liked 
to  send  men  to  Gani,  a  new  one  could  be  obtained  for  him." 

At  a  second  meeting,  Kamrasi  made  another  request  for 
the  chronometer,  and  the  travelers  were  eventually  obliged 
to  surrender  it  to  him,  in  order  to  obtain  any  favors. 
Kamrasi  proved  to  be  an  inveterate  beggar,  and  it  was  with 
the  utmost  difficulty  Speke  finally  succeeded  in  getting  away 
from  the  country. 

Taking  boats  they  proceeded  down  the  Nile  for  some  dis- 
tance, when  they  were  forced  to  take  to  the  land  again. 
Passing  the  country  of  the  Gani  they  entered  Madi.  Here 
they  found  the  first  evidences  of  civilization,  in  a  party  of 
Turks  who  were  there  under  the  control  of  one  Mahamed. 
These  Turks  were  mostly  married  to  native  wives — at  least 
temporarily  so — and  were  raising  families  of  children. 

Pushing  onwards  our  travelers  arrived  at  Gondokoro  in 
North  Latitude  4°  45 ' ',  where  they  met  Mr.  Baker  now  Sir 
Samuel  Baker,  who  was  then  en-route  up  the  Nile  on  his  tour 
of  discovery.  The  meeting  of  course  was  an  unexpected  as 
well  as  joyful  one.  At  this  place  was  established  an  Austrian 
Mission  and  some  priests  attached  to  it  were  there. 

Gondokoro  was  reached  by  our  travelers  in  February  1863 — 
just  twenty-eight  months  from  the  time  they  left  Bagamoyo — • 
having  passed  up  through  the  very  centre  of  Africa,  over  a 
route  entirely  unknown,  and  among  tribes  who  had  never 
seen  a  white  face  before — from  Kaze  to  Gondokoro  over 
about  10°  of  latitude — during  the  time  entirely  cut  off  from 
all  civilization  and  the  outside  world.  Down  the  Nile  they 
went  afterwards  and  proceeded  to  England,  having  accom- 
plished one  of  the  most  wonderful  journeys  on  record. 


CHAPTER  XLIY. 
BAKER'S  EXPLORATIONS. 

SAMUEL  "W.  BAKER,  an  Englishman,  accompanied  by  his 
wife,  started  from  Cairo,  April  15th,  1871,  to  sail  up  the 
Nile.  On  arriving  at  Korosko,  twenty-six  days  from  Cairo, 
they  started  across  the  Nubian  Desert  on  camels,  through  a 
wilderness  of  scorched  sands  and  glowing  basaltic  rock,  thus 
cutting  off  the  western  bend  of  the  Nile.  In  seven  days  they 
struck  the  river  again  at  Abou  Hamed.  Eight  days'  march 
on  the  margin  of  the  river  brought  them  to  Berber,  a  consid- 
erable town  on  the  banks  of  the  Nile. 

Here  Baker  decided,  to  make  a  detour  eastward,  to  explore 
the  two  great  Abyssinian  tributaries  of  the  Nile — the  Atbara 
and  the  Blue  Nile.  These  rivers,  although  streams  of  extreme 
grandeur  during  the  rainy  season — from  June  to  September 
— are  reduced  during  the  dry  months  to  utter  insignificance ; 
the  Blue  Nile  becomes  very  shallow,  and  the  Atbara  perfectly 
dry. 

Leaving  Berber  on  the  10th  of  June,  the  travelers  in  two 
days  reached  the  Atbara,  and  found  its  bed  a  mere  sheet  of 
glaring  sand,  with  now  and  then  a  pool  of  water  where  the 
denizens  of  the  river  assembled  to  drink. 

Passing  on  up  the  Atbara  the  travelers  encamped,  June 
23d,  on  its  banks,  and  were  aroused  from  sleep  by  a  rum- 
bling like  distant  thunder  followed  by  the  voices  of  Arabs, 
who  shouted,  "El  Bahr!  El  Bahr!"  (the  tfver!  the  river!) 
Scarcely  had  some  of  the  men  who  were  sleeping  in  the  dry 
bed  escaped,  before  the  waters  arrived. 

700 


BAKER'S  EXPLORATIONS.  703 

In  the  morning  Baker  stood  on  the  banks  of  a  noble  river, 
although  there  had  been  no  drop  of  rain  or  sign  of  a  cloud. 
"  Dust  and  desolation  yesterday — to-day  a  magnificent  stream, 
some  five  hundred  yards  in  width,  and  from  fifteen  to  twenty 
feet  in  depth,  flowed  through  the  dreary  desert !  The  rains 
were  pouring  in  Abyssinia !  these  were  the  sources  of  the 
Nile!" 

Baker  followed  the  banks  of  the  Atbara  to  the  junction  of 
the  Settite  river,  and  then  followed  the  latter  stream  into  the 
Abyssinian  Mountains.  Here,  with  his  Hamran  sword-hunters, 
all  well  mounted,  he  had  an  exciting  rhinoceros  chase,  the 
result  of  which  shows  the  speed  of  these  clumsy-looking 
animals. 

"  The  two  rhinoceros  were  running  neck  and  neck,  like  a 
pair  of  horses  in  harness,  but  bounding  along  at  tremendous 
speed  within  ten  yards  of  the  leading  Hamran.  This  was 
Talier  Sherrif,  who  with  his  sword  drawn  and  his  long  hair 
flying  wildly  behind  him,  urged  his  horse  forward  in  the  race 
amid  a  cloud  of  dust  raised  by  the  two  huge  beasts.  *  * 
There  were  seven  of  us,  and,  passing  Abou  Do,  whose  face 
wore  an  expression  of  agony  at  finding  that  his  horse  was 
failing,  I  quickly  obtained  a  place  close  to  the  leading  Hamran 
*  *  *  I  tried  to  pass  the  rhinoceros  on  my  left,  so 
as  to  fire  close  into  the  shoulder,  my  remaining  barrel ;  but  it 
was  impossible  to  overtake  the  animals.  The  horses  were 
pressed  to  the  utmost ;  we  had  already  run  about  two  miles 
and  the  game  showed  no  signs  of  giving  up." 

Three  of  the  horses  gave  out,  and  also  that  of  Abou  Do, 
who,  thereupon,  sprang  to  the  ground  at  full  speed,  sword  in 
hand,  and,  preferring  his  own  legs,  ran  like  an  antelope,  and 
in  a  hundred  yards  race  nearly  beat  the  horses.  On  Hearing 
the  jungle  "  Taher  made  a  final  effort,  and  his  sword  flashed 
in  the  sunshine,  as  the  rear-most  rhinoceros  disappeared  in . 
the  dark  screen  of  thorns,  with  a  gash  upon  his  hind  quar- 
ters." (See  cut,  page  T13.) 

A  few  days  afterwards  there  was  another  race  with  a  rhi- 
noceros but  the  order  of  march  was  reversed  ;  recent  tracks 


704  BAKER'S  EXPLORATIONS. 

of  these  animals  had  been  discovered,  when — whiff!  whiff! 
whiff!  "  We  heard  the  sharp  whistling  snort,  with  a  tremen- 
dous rush  through  the  high  grass  and  thorns  close  to  us ;  and 
at  the  same  moment  two  of  the  brutes  were  upon  us  in  full 
charge.  There  was  no  time  for  more  than  one  look  behind. 
I  dug  the  spurs  into  Aggahr's  flanks,  and  clasping  him  round 
the  neck,  I  ducked  my  head  down  to  his  shoulder,  and  kept 
the  spurs  going,  blindly  trusting  to  Providence  and  my  good 
horse  in  my  flight  over  big  rocks,  fallen  trees,  thorns,  and 
and  high  grass,  with  the  two  infernal  animals  in  full  chase 
only  a  few  feet  behind  me. 

"  The  good  old  hunter  flew  over  obstacles  that  I  should  have 
thought  impossible,  and  dashed  straight  under  the  hooked 
thorn-bushes  and  doubled  like  a  hare.  The  aggageers  were 
all  scattered  ;  Mahomet  was  knocked  over  by  the  shoulder  of 
a  rhinoceros ;  all  the  men  were  sprawling  upon  the  rocks 
with  their  guns,  and  the  party  was  entirely  discomfited. 
Having  passed  the  kittar  thorn,  I  turned,  and  discovered  that 
the  beasts  had  gone  straight  on."  (See  cut,  page  T09.) 

Mr.  Baker  had  much  trouble  with  his  attendants,  who  fre- 
quently deserted,  and  sometimes  mutinied ;  once  as  he  was 
about  making  a  new  start,  his  camel-men  said  they  would  go 
no  further  with  him  but  set  out  on  their  return  the  next 
morning.  Their  excuse  was  that  the  proposed  route  led  into 
an  enemies'  country  and  they  feared  they  should  lose  their 
camels.  Mr.  Baker  says  in  continuation  of  the  narrative : — 

"  We  had  constructed  a  fence  of  thorns  around  our  camp, 
within  which  the  camels  were  now  reposing,  and  as  the  argu- 
ment had  become  hot,  the  Arabs  expressed  their  determina- 
tion to  start  home  that  very  instant,  and  we  were  to  be  left 
alone,  unless  they  could  persuade  other  men  of  their  tribe  to 
join  us  with  their  animals.  Accordingly  they  at  once  pro- 
ceeded to  saddle  their  camels  for  an  immediate  start.  With- 
out saying  another  word,  I  quietly  took  my  little  Fletcher 
rifle  and  cocked  both  barrels,  as  I  sat  within  ten  yards  of  the 
exit  from  the  camp.  The  men  were  just  ready  to  depart  and 
several  had  mounted  their  camels.  *  Goodbye,'  I  said;  'give 


,v 


BAKER'S  EXPLORATIONS.  707 

my  salaams  to  the  Sheik  when  you  arrive  at  Geera ;  but  the 
first  camel  that  passes  through  the  gate  of  the  camp  I  shall 
shoot  through  the  head.' 

"  They  had  heard  the  sharp  click  of  the  locks ;  not  a  camel 
moved.  My  Tokrooris,  and  Taher  Noor  now  came  forward 
as  mediators  and  begged  me  not  to  shoot  the  camels.  As  I 
had  the  rifle  pointed,  I  replied  to  this  demand  conditionally, 
that  the  Arabs  should  dismount  and  unsaddle  immediately  ; 
this  led  to  a  parley,  and  I  agreed  to  become  responsible  for 
the  value  of  the  camels  should  they  be  stolen  in  Mek  Mum- 
mur's  country.  The  affair  was  settled." 

This  country  into  which  they  now  entered  was  literally 
a  hunter's  paradise.  There  was  an  immense  amount  of  large 
game,  and  Baker  made  a  mixed  bag  of  elephants,  hippo- 
potami, buffaloes,  rhinoceros,  giraffes,  and  antelopes.  Lions 
were  numerous,  but  shy,  and  hard  to  bag,  although  sometimes 
met  at  close  quarters.  Baker  gives  the  following  account  of 
such  an  interview : — "I  was  carelessly  pushing  my  way 
through  the  opposing  thorns,  when  a  sudden  roar,  just  before 
me,  at  once  brought  my  rifle  upon  full  cock,  and  I  saw  a 
magnificent  lion  standing  in  the  middle  of  the  glade,  about 
ten  yards  from  me.  He  had  been  lying  on  the  ground,  and 
had  started  to  his  feet  upon  hearing  me  approach.  For  an 
instant  he  stood  in  an  attitude  of  attention,  as  we  were  hardly 
visible  ;  but  at  the  same  moment  I  took  a  quick  but  sure  shot 
with  the  little  Fletcher.  He  gave  a  convulsive  bound,  but 
rolled  over  backward  ;  before  he  could  recover  himself  J  fired 
the  left-hand  barrel.  It  was  a  glorious  sight.  I  had  advanced 
a  few  steps  into  the  glade,  and  Hassan  had  quickly  handed  me 
a  spare  rifle,  while  Taher  Noor  stood  by  me  sword  in  hand. 
The  lion  in  the  greatest  fury,  with  his  shaggy  mane  bristling 
in  the  air,  roared  with  death-like  growls,  as  open-mouthed  he 
endeavoured  to  charge  upon  us;  but  he  dragged  his  hind- 
quarters upon  the  ground,  and  I  saw  immediately  that  his 
spine  was  broken." 

Mr.  Baker  made  a  long  halt  in  this  section  and  had  many 
hunting  experiences.     Near  one  camp  was  a  regular  game 


70S  BAKER'S  EXPLORATIONS 

path  by  which  animals  arrived  at  the  river  every  morning  to 
drink.  One  morning  Mr.  Baker,  who  was  concealed  behind 
a  rock,  saw  two  ostriches — which  are  here  very  rare — arrive 
at  the  river  to  drink ;  he  determined  to  capture  one  and  thus 
describes  the  attempt : — "  I  now  had  a  good  chance,  as  the 
herd  of  animals  returned  from  drinking  by  charging  at  full 
speed  up  the  steep  bank  from  the  water,  and  they  passed 
about  ninety  yards  from  my  hiding-place,  headed  by  -the  os- 
triches. Having  the  little  Fletcher  I  was  suddenly  tempted 
to  fire  at  right  and  left,  so  as  to  bag  an  ostrich  with  one  bar- 
rel, and  a  tetel  with  the  other.  Both  fell  for  an  instant ;  the 
tettel  dead,  shot  through  the  neck  ;  but  my  ostrich,  a  fine 
cock  bird,  immediately  recovered  and  went  off  with  his  wife 
as  fast  as  their  long  legs  could  carry  them.  I  had  evidently 
fired  too  far  behind,  not  having  allowed  sufficiently  for  the 
rapidity  of  their  speed." 

Leaving  the  head-waters  of  the  Settite,  Baker  crossed  over 
to  the  rivers  Royan,  Salaam  and  Angrab  at  the  foot  of  a 
magnificent  range  of  mountains.  Having  explored  these 
rivers  he  passed  through  an  extensive  and  beautiful  country 
and,  again  crossing  the  Atbara,  arrived  at  the  frontier  town 
of  Gallabat.  Marching  due  west  from  this  place  he  arrived 
at  the  Rahad,  and  descended  its  banks  to  its  junction  with 
the  Blue  Nile.  The  route  then  lay  down  that  grand  river  to 
Khartoum,  where  the  travelers  arrived  exactly  twelve  months 
from  the  day  when  they  left  Berber. 

At  Khartoum  Baker  hired  forty-five  men,  whom  he 
armed  and  paid  five  month's  wages  in  advance ;  the  party 
started  in  three  vessels,  December  18th,  1862,  and  reached 
Gondokoro,  the  head  of  navigation,  February  2d,  1863.  Ba- 
ker was  the  first  Englishman  who  had  ever  been  there,  but 
Speke  and  Grant  arrived  from  the  south  a  few  days  after- 
ward. Here  all  of  Baker's  men  excepting  two  mutinied  and 
deserted,  and  it  was  impossible  to  obtain  others.  Seventeen 
of  them  subsequently  decided  to  go  on  if  the  route  could  be 
east  instead  of  south  ;  the  party  left  Gondokoro  on  the  night 
of  March  26th,  and  followed  in  the  wake  of  a  trader's  party 


GAME  RETURNING  FROM  THE  RIVER. 


ATTACK  OF  THE  RHINOCEROS. 


BAKER'S  EXPLORATIONS.  til 

bound  for  Latooka,  which  had  started  that  day,  after  refusing 
Baker  permission  to  accompany  and  daring  him  to  follow 
them. 

Passing  the  belligerent  Turkish  caravan  at  night,  Baker's 
party  pushed  on,  and  after  an  exciting  and  dangerous  march 
of  about  fifty  miles  reached  the  beautiful  valley  of  Ellyria 
walled  in  by  high  mountains.  The  whole  country  was  a 
series  of  natural  forts  occupied  by  a  large  population.  The 
Turkish  caravan  arrived  about  the  same  time,  and  after  '  a  talk ' 
its  leader  and  Baker  concluded  to  be  friends. 

At  Latooka,  fifty  miles  east  of  Ellyria,  Baker  was  kindly 
received  by  the  chief,  who  was  so  delighted  with  some  beads 
given  him,  that  he  begged  another  string  for  his  head  wife. 
On  receiving  them  he  said,  "  What  a  row  there  will  be  in 
the  family  when  my  other  wives  see  Bokke  dressed  up  in 
her  finery,"  Baker  took  the  hint,  and  gave  him  enough  prob- 
ably to  supply  all. 

Baker  left  Latooka  early  in  May,  and  proceeded  south- 
westerly to  Obbo  lying  in  the  heart  of.  the  mountains.  The 
chief  of  Obbo  met  the  travelers  and  acted  the  buffoon  for 
their  amusement.  Not  being  able  to  proceed  south  till  the 
rainy  season  was  over,  as  the  Achua  River  could  not  be 
crossed,  Baker  and  his  wife  returned  to  Latooka  towards  the 
close  of  May.  Here  Mrs.  Baker  was  dangerously  ill,  but 
owing  to  trouble  between  the  Latookas  and  Turks,  she  \vas 
taken  to  Obbo  in  a  palanquin  about  the  last  of  June.  Here 
Baker  and  his  wife  were,  very  sick ;  famine  and  small-pox 
were  desolating  the  land,  and  but  for  special  attentions  from 
the  chief  it  seems  as  if  both  travelers  would  have  died. 

For  months  Baker  and  his  wife  dragged  on  a  miserable 
existence  at  Obbo,  wrecked  by  fever,  and  it  was  not  till  Jan- 
uary 5th  1864,  that  they  left  Obbo  ;  even  then  both  were  far 
from  strong.  They  started  on  ox  back,  but  Baker's  first  ox 
ran  away  with  the  saddle  and  was  lost. 

The  route  taken  was  south  and  south-west,  and  on  the  22d 
of  January,  Atada,  near  the  Karuma  Falls  on  the  Somerset 
River,  was  reached,  and  after  an  interview  with  the  head  men 


712  BAKER'S  EXPLORATIONS, 

of  the  King  of  Unyoro,  Baker  was  pronounced  to  be 
"  Speke's  own  brother  "  and  invited  to  visit  Kamrasi's  capital. 
On  the  10th  of  February  the  travelers  were  conducted  to  a  marsh 
opposite  the  town,  but  were  not  allowed  to  cross  the  river 
till  February  21st,  Mrs.  Baker  being  meantime  very  sick. 

Two  or  three  days  afterward,  Baker  and  his  wife  started  to 
discover  a  large  lake  said  to  lie  to  the  westward.  Porters  and 
a  guide  had  been  furnished  by  Kamrasi.  After  traveling 
about  a  mile  they  were  overtaken  by  the  person  who  had 
been  introduced  to  them  as  Kamrasi,  and  whom  they  sup- 
posed to  be  that  monarch.  A  halt  was  made  to  give  him 
audience,  during  which  he  said  to  Baker  : — "  I  will  send  you 
to  the  lake  as  I  have  promised  ;  ~but  you  must  leave  your  wife 
with  me  /" 

A  scene  ensued  in  which  Mrs.  Baker  and  her  woman  took 
a  part,  and  it  so  impressed  Kamrasi  that  he  said : — 

"  Don't  be  angry  !  I  had  no  intention  of  offending  you  by 
asking  for  your  wife  ;  I  will  give  you  a  wife  if  you  want  one  ; 
it  is  my  custom  to  give  my  visitors  pretty  wives,  and  I  thought 
you  might  exchange." 

The  apology  was  coolly  accepted,  and  the  march  continued. 
On  the  way  to  the  lake  Mrs.  Baker  suffered  a  sun  stroke,  and 
was  for  a  long  time  unconscious,  followed  by  seven  days  of 
brain  fever.  It  afterwards  appeared  that  they  had  not  seen 
the  king  at  all,  but  that  he  had  sent  his  brother  to  personify 
him,  through  his  own  cowardice. 

Baker  discovered  the  lake  on  the  fourteenth  of  March,  and 
named  it  Albert  N'yanza.  "It  was"  says  Baker  "with  ex- 
treme emotion  that  I  enjoyed  the  glorious  scene.  My  wife, 
who  had  followed  me  so  devotedly,  stood  by  my  side  pale  and 
and  exhausted — a  wreck  upon  the  shores  of  the  great  Albert 
Lake  that  we  had  so  long  striven  to  reach.  This  was  the 
great  reservoir  of  the  Nile  P 

After  eight  days  halt  at  the  lake,  boats  were  procured  and 
the  party  rowed  northerly  up  the  eastern  shore  of  the  lake 
for  thirteen  days,  when  they  reached  Magungo,  at  the  mouth 
of  the  Somerset  river.  They  then  rowed  easterly  up  that 


BAKER'S  EXPLORATIONS.  715 

river  till  they  approached  a  perpendicular  fall  of  about  one 
hundred  and  twenty  feet,  and  this  Baker  named  the  Mur- 
chison  Falls.  Here  they  left  their  boats,  and  marched  along 
the  banks  of  the  river. 

In  consequence  of  the  illness  of  Baker  and  his  wife,  the 
loss  of  their  oxen,  the  refusal  of  the  natives  to  assist  them, 
and  a  war  which  was  going  on,  they  were  delayed  a  long 
time  just  south  of  the  Somerset  River  in  the  territory  of 
Kamrasi,  and  hardly  expected  to  survive  the  horrors  of  their 
imprisonment.  Here  they  finally  had  an  interview  with  the 
genuine  Kamrasi,  who  vainly  begged  for  Baker's  assistance 
in  fighting  his  enemy,  Fowaaka. 

One  day  the  king  appeared  at  Baker's  hut,  dreadfully 
alarmed  and  stripped  of  all  the  beautiful  dress  of  skins  which 
he  usually  wore.  On  being  complimented  for  adopting  a 
dress  so  well  adapted  for  fighting,  he  exclaimed  in  horror : — 
"Fighting !  I  am  not  going  to  fight !  I  have  dressed  lightly 
to  bo  able  to  run  fast.  I  mean  to  run  away."  It  appeared 
that  a  trading  party  had  joined  Fowaaka's  forces  and  were 
marching  to  attack  Kamrasi. 

Baker  raised  the  English  flag  and  assured  Kamrasi  of  pro- 
tection as  long  as  he  remained  under  it.  He  then  obtained 
an  interview  with  the  leaders  of  the  trading  party,  and  pre- 
emptorily  ordered  them  to  leave  the  country,  which  he  claim- 
ed by  right  of  discovery  ;  he  also  threatened  to  report  them 
to  the  Turkish  officials  at  Khartoum,  if  they  refused  to  obey. 
The  next  day  the  Turkish  traders  recrossed  the  river,  to  the 
great  joy  of  Kamrasi  and  his  people. 

Soon  afterwards,  early  in  October,  news  came  that  the 
Waganda  were  approaching  from  the  south,  to  fight  Kamrasi. 
Thereupon  the  coward  set  fire  to  his  villages,  and  ran  with 
his  wives  and  subjects  to  a  safe  place,  on  an  island  in  the 
river,  leaving  Baker's  party  alone.  The  king's  brother,  how- 
ever, returned  with  a  party  of  natives,  and  the  travelers 
started  toward  Karuma  Falls — Baker  being  carried  in  a  chair, 
and  his  wife  on  a  litter.  The  Turkish  traders,  who  had 
37 


716  BAKER'S  EXPLORATIONS. 

started  from  Gondokoro  just  before  Baker  did,  were  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  falls,  and  their  camp  was  finally  reached. 

On  the  17th  of  November,  the  caravan,  consisting  of 
porters,  guard,  women  and  children — one  thousand  persons  in 
all — started  for  Shooa  where  it  arrived  in  five  days.  Some 
months  were  passed  at  Shooa,  and  then,  in  February,  the 
caravan  started  for  Gondokoro,  where  the  travelers  arrived  in 
safety.  The  voyage  down  the  river  was  made  in  a  diahbiah, 
or  ivory  boat,  which  was  returning  without  a  load.  Much 
difficulty  was  experienced  in  getting  past  the  extraordinary 
obstructions  which  had  dammed  the  Nile  since  Baker  ascended 
it,  two  years  before.  Khartoum  was  reached  on  the  5th  of 
May,  1865.  Here  Baker  heard  of  the  death  of  his  friend 
Speke,  from  an  accidental  shot. 

On  the  1st  of  July,  Baker  and  his  devoted  wife  sailed 
from  Khartoum,  and  in  due  time  arrived  in  Cairo. 

On  Baker's  return  from  the  discovery  of  the  Albert  N'yanza, 
a  baronetcy  was  conferred  on  him  by  the  British  Government, 
and  he  is  now  known  as  Sir  S.  "W.  Baker. 

The  expedition  in  which  Baker  is  now  engagea  was  pro- 
jected and  organized  by  him  under  the  auspices  of  the  visit 
to  Egypt  of  the  Prince  of  Wales.  It  was  equipped  and 
despatched  under  the  Yiceroy's  instructions,  its  object  being 
the  exploration  and  annexation  to  Egypt  of  the  whole  Nile 
basin  to  its  sources.  Baker  was  made  a  Pasha  of  the  first 
degree,  and  received  the  rank  of  Major  General  in  the 
Egyptian  army. 

A  large  fleet  conveying  the  expedition  left  Khartoum  Feb- 
ruary 7th,  1870.  On  reaching  a  portion  of  the  Nile  near 
the  Bahr  Giraffe,  the  river  channels  were  so  obstructed  that 
progress  was  impossible.  A  camp  was  subsequently  formed 
on  the  east  bank  of  the  Nile  near  the  mouth  of  the  Sobat 
River,  about  seven  hundred  miles  from  Khartoum.  The 
men  had  died  in  great  numbers  from  exposure  to  the  malaria, 
and  swarms  of  mosquitoes  which  rendered  sleep  nearly  im- 
possible. Here  the  men  were  encamped  for  seven  months  ; 
a  crusade  against  the  slave-traders  was  commenced  ;  all  boats 


BAKER'S  EXPLORATIONS. 

were  stopped,  the  slaves  released,  and  the  traders  put  in 
iron.  A  government  monopoly  of  the  ivory  trade  was  also 
established,  and  all  traders  were  ordered  to  return  North. 

The  attempt  to  proceed  southerly  was  renewed  early  in 
December.  The  fleet  consisted  of  one  steamer,  and  fifty-eight 
vessels  averaging  about  thirty  tons  burden,  which  would  float 
when  heavily  laden  in  four  feet  of  water.  One  vessel,  laden 
with  sections  of  a  steamer  intended  for  use  o,n  the  lake,  sunk 
in  deep  water,  but  was  raised  and  pulled  ashore  by  the  help 
of  many  friendly  natives. 

After  reaching  the  obstructions  in  the  river,  several  months 
were  spent  in  cutting  through  miles  of  tangled  vegetation 
and  shallow  channels  overrun  with  reeds.  The  country  was 
an  entire  marsh,  without  a  single  dry  spot  to  the  horizon,  but 
with  no  deep  water. 

The  task  appeared  hopeless.  The  river  began  to  fall,  and 
men  died  daily.  Just  then  the  report  of  deep  water  ahead 
revived  the  men,  and  after  a  few  days  the  fleet  was  all  assem- 
bled in  what  seemed  to  be  a  long  pond ;  but  the  water  rapidly 
ran  out  through  the  cuttings  made  to  admit  the  fleet,  and  the 
boats  lay  perfectly  helpless  in  only  two  feet  of  water.  A 
dam  was  then  built  in  the  rear,  on  which  fifteen  hundred 
men  worked  for  two  days.  It  proved  a  success ;  a  strong  wind 
sprang  up,  and  the  fleet  soon  emerged  into  the  unobstructed 
White  Nile,  and  reached  Gondokoro  on  the  22d  of  May,  1 871, 
having  been  nearly  six  months  in  accomplishing  a  voyage 
which  formerly,  when  the  river  was  open,  would  have  occu- 
pied only  twenty-five  days. 

Baker's  force  now  consisted  of  one  thousand  troops  in  good 
condition — part  Egyptians,  and  part  blacks — with  ten  mount- 
ed guns.  He  took  formal  possession  of  Gondokoro  in  the  name 
of  Egypt,  hoisted  the  flag,  and  renamed  the  place,  Ismailia. 
It  is  the  capital  of  the  Bari  tribes,  who  have  grown  wealthy 
by  bringing  thither  to  sell,  slaves  and  cattle  plundered 
from  the  interior  tribes.  Baker  summoned  the  chiefs  to  a 
meeting ;  but  they  declared  against  annexation  to  Egypt,  and 
refused  the  Viceroy's  authority.  They  also  refused  to  sell 


718  BAKER'S  EXPLORATION'S. 

supplies  for  the  troops,  and  subsequently  some  of  Baker's  men 
were  wounded  with  arrows.  War  was  instantly  declared ; 
Baker  took  the  field  with  six-hundred  men  and  completely 
subdued  the  Bari.  He  returned  to  Gondokoro  early  in 
October,  with  a  loss  of  ten  men  killed  and  several  wounded. 

A  spirit  of  dissatisfaction  was  now  manifested  by  the  army, 
and  on  the  12th  of  October  the  officers,  including  the  Colonel 
commanding,  declared,  in  writing,  their  intention  to  abandon 
the  expedition  and  return  with  the  troops  to  Khartoum.  As 
a  scarcity  of  provisions  was  given  as  a  reason  for  the  move- 
ment, Baker  immediately  marched  his  men  a  short  distance 
south  where  corn  was  plenty.  The  true  cause  of  the  discon- 
tent, Baker  believed  to  be  his  determination  to  suppress  the 
slave  trade,  in  opposition  to  the  public  opinion  of  Egypt. 

When  last  heard  from  Baker  was  confident  of  success, 
although  he  found  the  work  of  establishing  a  government 
and  securing  a  base  for  operations,  far  more  difficult  to  accom- 
plish than  a  simple  exploration.  His  chief  obstacle,  aside 
from  the  sickness  and  dissatisfaction  of  the  men,  promised  to 
be  the  difficulty  of  procuring  porters  to  carry  his  equipments, 
including  the  boat  in  sections  intended  for  navigating  the 
Albert  ISPyanza. 

The  Egyptian  Government  are  much  dissatisfied  at  the 
results  of  the  expedition  thus  far  ;  the  Viceroy  expresses  his 
views  as  follows : — 

"  Baker  went  to  the  White  Nile  to  create  and  not  to  destroy 
commerce  ;  but  instead  of  increasing  our  trade  he  has  nearly 
destroyed  it ;  traveling  is  not  safe  along  the  river ;  the  tribes 
are  hostile  to  the  government,  and  we  find  our  dominion 
under  his  war  of  conquest  unsafe,  and  unsounder  than  if  he 
had  not  gone  there  at  all.  Formerly  our  empire  extended  to 
Gondokoro  and  beyond  ;  it  is  not  increased  by  any  annexation 
by  Baker.  Peace,  and  not  war,  is  our  true  policy  with  those 
wild  tribes,  and  I  regret  what  Baker  has  done,  because  it 
implants  in  their  untaught  minds  the  idea  that  Egypt  is  their 
enemy." 

It  is  estimated  that  the  expenses  of  the  expedition  thus 


BAKER'S  EXPLORATIONS.  719 

far,  have  been  over  $2,000,000.  Baker  was  to  have  a  sal- 
ary of  £5,000  per  year,  besides  all  expenses,  and  a  large  pen- 
sion was  to  be  paid  to  Lady  Baker — who  accompanied  the 
expedition — in  case  of  his  death  within  two  years.  Baker, 
on  his  part,  is  said  to  have  agreed  to  accomplish  all  that  was 
to  be  done  within  that  time  ;  but  at  its  expiration,  and,  as  far 
as  heard  from  since,  nothing  had  been  accomplished. 

At  latest  dates  from  the  White  Nile,  Baker  was  -reported 
to  have  reached  the  lake  with  a  small  force ;  but  the  intelli- 
gence was  not  very  reliable,  and  the  Yiceroy  did  not  credit 
the  news.  Baker's  only  safety  seemed  to  be  in  pushing  for- 
ward into  a  more  healthy  locality,  and  it  is  believed  he  has 
done  this — perhaps  at  the  sacrifice  of  the  military  character 
of  the  expedition.  Many  confidently  believe  that  he  has 
met  Livingstone  in  the  vicinity  of  Lake  Tanganyika,  or  will 
goon  do  so. 

A  new  military  expedition  consisting  of  five  thousand  men, 
has  just  been  organized  in  Egypt,  which  is  to  be  sent  by 
transport  vessels  to  Zanzibar.  Ostensibly  the  expedition  is 
to  .co-operate  with  Livingstone,  if  agreeable  to  him ;  other- 
wise, to  act  independently  in  searching  for  the  sources  of  the 
Nile.  It  is  quite  likely  the  primary  object  is  the  relief  of 
Pasha  Baker  and  his  followers. 


CHAPTER  XLY. 
NATAL. 

~VTO  work  on  Africa  would  be  complete  without  a  descrip- 
-L 1  tion  of  the  little  gem  of  a  British  colony  lying  on  the 
South  Eastern  coast,  about  eight  hundred  miles  from  the  Cape 
of  Good  Hope,  called  Natal.  It  is  in  the  same  latitude  as 
New  Orleans,  (30°  south  of  the  line,  and  30°  east  of  Green- 
wich.) Its  northern  boundary  is  Zulu  Land  proper,  its  south- 
ern, Ponda  Land,  its  eastern,  the  Indian  Ocean,  and  western, 
a  range  of  high  mountains,  called  the  Kahlamba  or  Drakens- 
burg.  The  latter  have  been  designated  the  Appenines  of 
South  Africa,  some  of  them  being  six  thousand  feet  above 
the  sea,  and  during  July,  the  coldest  winter  month,  capped 
with  snow. 

Natal  has  a  seaboard  of  one  hundred  and  seventy  miles,  and 
is  about  twice  the  size  of  Massachusetts.  Its  original  discov- 
erer was  Yasco  De  Gama,  a  Portuguese  navigator,  who  sighted 
it  in  1497,  on  Christmas  day,  and  named  it  in  honor  of  its 
discovery,  Tierra  Natal  (the  land  of  the  nativity).  It  rises 
in  beautiful  terraces  from  the  Indian  Ocean,  the  first  being 
about  eight  hundred  feet  high,  the  second  two  thousand,  the 
third  three  thousand  five  hundred. 

Along  the  coast,  is  a  strip  of  land  extending  back  fifteen 
and  sometimes  twenty  miles,  adapted  to  the  cultivation  of 
sugar,  coffee,  arrow-root,  ginger,  indigo,  and  various  tropical 
productions.  Wheat  and  other  cereals  thrive  in  the  upper 
districts,  and  near  the  foot  of  the  Drakensburg  mountains  lies 
a  fine  grazing  country.  The  products  of  the  soil  are  various. 

720 


ENTRANCE  TO  THE  HARBOR.  72 1 

Most  European  and  American  vegetables  can  be  raised  with- 
out difficulty.  Among  the  most  common  are  Irish  and  sweet 
potatoes,  Indian  corn,  beans,  peas,  carrots,  lettuce,  cabbages, 
turnips,  pumpkins,  cucumbers,  and  melons.  Of  fruits, 
oranges,  lemons,  pomegranites,  pine-apples,  bananas,  peaches, 
the  itungulu,  a  red  plum,  and  the  golden  gooseberry.  Ts  ot 
many  indigenous  fruits  are  found.  The  apple  does  not  flour- 
ish near  the  coast,  but  is  raised  to  some  extent  inland.  The 
staple  product  is  Indian  corn,  of  which  two  crops  can  bs 
raised  in  a  year,  near  the  coast  by  pains-taking.  Cotton,  tea, 
and  ginger  are  cultivated,  but  not  largely.  Sugar-cane 
and  coffee  grow  luxuriantly  in  the  low  lands. 

For  natural  beauty,  healthy  climate,  and  fertile  soil,  Xatal 
surpasses  all  other  African  colonies.  It  has  been  justly  des- 
ignated an  "  Elysium  in  South  Africa."  The  first  object 
saluting  us,  as  we  approach  the  shore,  is  the  friendly  light- 
house, a  tall,  massive,  costly  structure,  situated  on  a  high 
bluff,  visible  for  many  miles. 

Then  appears  the  singular  looking  coast,  lined  with  dense 
twisted  trees,  interspersed  with  the  tall  Euphorbia,  the  Prickly 
Pear,  and  Wild  Palm.  Mountains  of  silvery  spray  indicate 
the  mouths  of  numerous  rivers.  The  harbor  \ve  pronounce 
excellent,  after  passing  the  sand  bar  which  almost  blocks  up 
its  entrance  and  is  the  dread  of  all  shippers  to  and  from  this 
port.  It  is  certainly  no  joke  to  cross  it  in  a  small  schooner 
obliged  to  climb  into  the  rigging,  or  be  shut  up  in  the  cabin, 
to  feel  the  slow-moving  craft  thumping  the  bar,  first  on  one 
side  and  then  the  other,  while  a  mountain  breaker  sweeps  the 
deck  amid  the  almost  deafening  shouts  of  "  Look  out,"  from 
the  pilot  and  helmsman.  An  extensive  breakwater  is  now 
being  constructed,  not  only  as  a  defense  from  the  violence  of 
the  waves,  but  to  check  the  drifting  of  sand  into  the  harbor. 
Should  this  not  prove  successful,  measures  will  doubtless  be 
taken  to  blow  up  the  ledge  of  sandstone  lying  at  the  entrance, 
and  thus  deepen  the  channel. 

Stepping  on  shore,  we  are  gratified  to  find  two  miles  of 
railway  leading  to  the  only  seaport  town,  named  Durban. 


722          DURBAN  AND  ITS  SURROUNDINGS. 

Sanctuaries  belonging  to  different  denominations  meet  the 
eye.  Substantial  buildings  of  brick  and  stone,  such  as  the 
post-office,  bank,  mercantile  and  other  establishments,  orna- 
ment the  town. 

The  Botanical  Gardens  are  conspicuous  on  an  elevation  in 
the  suburbs,  and  contain  fine  specimens  of  foreign  as  well  as 
African  productions. 

Two  well-conducted  newspapers,  a  public  library,  young 
men's  improvement  clubs,  Bible,  tract,  and  temperance  socie- 
ties, give  evidence  of  literary  and  religious  progress. 

The  market  is  stocked  with  beef,  venison,  fowls,  and  garden 
vegetables.  The  ordinary  price  of  beef  per  pound  is  eight 
cents,  of  mutton  twelve  cents.  A  good-sized  chicken  can  be 
had  for  twelve  or  fifteen  cents.  Oysters  are  abundant  on  the 
rocks  which  skirt  the  coast,  and  can  be  obtained  at  low  tide 
by  using  the  hammer  and  chisel.  They  are  equal  in  flavor, 
but  not  in  size,  to  the  American.  Fruit  is  astonishingly  cheap 
and  abundant.  Often,  a  large  cluster  of  ripe  bananas  can  be 
had  for  twenty-five  cents.  The  market  is  frequently  glutted 
with  luscious  oranges. 

The  streets  of  Durban  are  laid  out  at  right  angles,  are  wide, 
and  convenient  for  trade  with  the  Dutch  farmers,  whose 
wagons  require  a  large  space  for  moving  about.  These  cum- 
bersome vehicles  are  drawn  by  a  span  of  six  or  seven  yoke  of 
oxen,  and  are  peculiarly  adapted  to  the  rough  roads  and  bridge- 
less  rivers. 

The  population  of  this  town  is  about  three  thousand,  mostly 
English,  who  are  merchants  or  mechanics.  It  suffers  for 
want  of  good  water,  that  of  the  wells  being  brackish,  and 
inducing  cutaneous  diseases.  All  that  is  suitable  for  drink- 
ing, is  caught  from  galvanized  iron  roofs  in  time  of  rain. 
The  Umgeni,  a  river  of  pure  water,  empties  itself  into  the  sea 
only  three  miles  distant,  and  will  doubtless'  be  made  availa- 
able,  should  the  town  rise  in  wealth  and  importance. 

The  trade  between  this  colony  and  the  Dutch  farmers  of 
the  Orange  Free  State  and  Trans  Vaal  Republic  is  increasing, 
and  Durban  is  the  depot  from  which  all  the  wool,  ivory,  hides, 


COMMERCE  AND  TRADE.  725 

horns,  etc.,  from  the  interior,  together  with  Natal  productions, 
are  exported.  It  is  also  a  receptacle  for  imports  from  other 
countries.  Though  fine  wheat  is  raised  on  the  high  lands, 
and  by  the  Dutch  beyond  the  mountains,  most  of  the  flour 
used  by  the  colonists  is  imported  from  Australia. 

The  revenue  of  the  colony  is  raised  principally  from  the 
sale  of  crown  lands,  transfer  dues,  stamps,  post-office,  auction, 
and  harbor  dues,  licenses,  customs,  and  an  annual  native  hut 
tax.  Private  individuals  are  not  allowed  to  import  gunpow- 
der, but  are  permitted  to  purchase  it  of  government.  All 
guns  are  registered  and  stamped  in  magistrate's  offices,  and  a 
duty  of  half  a  sovereign  levied  on  each  barrel.  A  military 
force  is  maintained  consisting  of  a  regiment  of  from  three 
hundred  to  five  hundred  soldiers. 

Commerce,  at  present,  is  almost  entirely  in  the  hands  of 
the  English.  Why  no  wide-awake  American  merchant  has 
established  himself  in  this  rising  country,  is  difficult  to  see. 
A  fine  opportunity  is  opening  for  Yankee  ingenuity  and 
enterprise.  In  developing  the  resources  of  their  beautiful 
colony,  it  is  believed  that  Natalians  would  gladly  extend  the 
hand  of  fellowship  to  their  American  brethren.  It  seems 
desirable  that  there  should  be  a  direct  connection  between 
the  mercantile  houses  of  Durban  and  America.  Do  we  not 
need  wool,  ivory,  hides,  sugar,  coffee,  arrow-root,  ginger,  etc.  ? 
And  does  not  Natal  need  furniture,  which  can  be  made  in 
America  cheaper  than  any  where  else,  together  with  lumber, 
kerosene,  agricultural  tools,  sewing-machines,  and  Yankee 
notions  innumerable  ? 

Though  Natal  has  suffered  greatly  within  a  few  years  from 
rash  speculations,  its  commercial  affairs  are  now  in  a  healthy 
state.  Its  credit  with  the  mother  country  is  good,  and  the 
Diamond  Fields,  only  four  hundred  and  fifty  miles  distant, 
have  opened  a  brisk  trade.  The  road  to  these  fields  from 
Natal  being  an  excellent  one,  and  the  grass  for  oxen  abundaitt, 
it  is  not  strange  that  so  many  seekers  for  precious  stones  have 
made  this  part  of  South  Africa  their  starting  point  and  place 
of  supplies. 


726  PIETER  MARITZBURG. 

The  only  city  in  Natal  (and  a  more  beautiful  one  can  hardly 
be  found  in  any  country),  is  Pieter  Maritzburg — the  capital, — 
fifty  miles  from  Durban,  and  connected  with  that  place  by  a 
good  Government  road.  It  is  situated  in  a  large  valley,  laid 
out  at  right  angles,  surrounded  by  high  hills,  and  shaded  by 
tall  and  graceful  Australian  gum  trees.  Good  water,  never 
failing  in  the  driest  season,  is  conducted  through  the  streets, 
from  which  every  house  is  supplied  and  every  garden  irrigated. 
Here  resides  His  Excellency,  the  Lieutenant  Governor,  Mr. 
Anthony  Musgrave,  whose  estimable  lady  is  an  American, 
the  daughter  of  David  Dudley  Field,  Esq.,  of  New  York. 
Here,  also,  the  Colonial  Secretary,  Treasurer,  Attorney  Gen- 
eral, and  other  prominent  officials  have  their  head  quarters. 
Commodious  barracks  for  Her  Majesty's  troops  on  an  elevation 
in  the  suburbs,  command  a  fine  view  of  the  surrounding 
country. 

The  European  population  of  the  city  is  estimated  at  five 
thousand.  Its  trade  is  mostly  with  Dutch  farmers,  who  come 
from  beyond  the  Drakensberg  Mountains,  a  journey  of  twenty 
or  thirty  days,  in  their  large  wagons,  bringing  butter,  wool, 
hides,  ivory,  etc.,  to  exchange  for  furniture,  plows,  groceries, 
and  clothing. 

Leaving  this  lovely  city,  and  riding  into  the  country,  we 
are  enchanted  with  the  scenery,  and  exclaim,  "What  magnifi- 
cent landscapes !  how  beautiful  those  table  lands  and  bush -clad 
valleys  !"  We  quite  agree  with  the  old  Portuguese  navigator, 
who  said  of  it  centuries  ago,  "  It  is  a  land  most  goodly  and 
pleasant  to  behold."  Whether  we  journey  in  the  summer, 
from  September  to  April,  and  are  delighted  with  the  luxuriant 
verdure,  or  in  winter,  from  May  to  August,  the  thermometer 
ranging  from  40°  to  75°,  the  atmosphere  pure  and  invigora- 
ting, the  skies  cloudless,  the  nights  cool  and  bracing,  we 
are  compelled  to  acknowledge  that  it  is  a  pre-eminently  charm- 
ing country. 

That  penetrating  cold  experienced  in  a  New  England  win- 
ter is  never  known  here,  and  the  heat  in  summer  is  seldom 
more  oppressive  than  in  America  during  July  and  August. 


MISSIONARY  SOCIETIES  80. 
*•  Stations  ffftfic  vL  B.  C 
I  _  ,  _  ffftht~Bcrlm  Society. 
of  Pastor  Jfanns 


_nglis}tJEjji<c0paliant 
--  .  _   \V~esby  tut  Society 
e  JSngUfh  lowru 


Longitude EasCX 


728  ZULU  LABOR 

Frequent  thunder-storms,  followed  by  cool  days  and  a  sea 
breeze  every  p.  M.,  greatly  mitigate  tlie  heat  in  December  and 
January,  the  hottest  months  in  Natal.  To  those  noxious 
vapors  common  in  Delagoa  Bay,  and  on  the  Eastern  and  West- 
ern coasts  of  the  continent,  this  colony  is  a  stranger.  It  is 
also  exempt  from  many  diseases  fatal  in  other  countries.  The 
vital  statistics  compared  with  those  of  other  parts  of  the  world 
show  that  the  rate  of  mortality  is  low.  For  the  relief  of  pul- 
monary complaints,  the  Natal  climate  is  probably  unsurpassed. 
Let  those  manifesting  a  tendency  to  consumption  try  it  before 
the  disease  has  become  seated,  and  there  is  a  prospect  of  a 
lengthened  life,  if  not  of  a  permanent  cure. 

We  would  not  ignore  the  fact  that  there  are  serious  draw- 
backs to  colonial  enterprise,  and  adventurers  who  go  there 
expecting  to  fill  their  pockets  with  gold  without  a  struggle 
may  find  themselves  disappointed.  One  thing  now  trying  the 
colonists,  exceedingly,  is  scarcity  of  native  labor.  It  would 
seem  that  among  three  hundred  thousand,  or  nearly  that  num- 
ber of  Zulus,  the  sixteen  thousand,  or  seventeen  thousand 
European  .residents  might  obtain  abundance  of  cheap  labor ; 
but  this  is  not  the  case.  Zulu  men  will  not  work,  unless  they 
see  it  is  for  their  interest  to  do  so,  and  the  English  Government 
wisely  refuses  to  force  them  to  labor.  Coolies  have  been 
introduced  from  India  at  great  expense,  but  not  in  sufficient 
number  to  carry  on  all  the  agricultural  operations. 

Besides,  the  Diamond  Fields  have  drawn  away  a  large  num- 
ber of  native  servants,  and  the  rate  of  wages  is  high.  Then 
again,  the  pleuro  pneumonia,  and  other  cattle  diseases,  have 
swept  away  so  many  valuable  oxen,  that  it  is  becoming  a 
serious  question  among  sugar  and  coffee  planters,  how  to  get 
their  produce  to  market.  The  cry  on  all  hands  is,  "  Give  us 
railways."  The  new  governor,  sympathetic  and  helpful,  will 
doubtless  use  his  influence  with  the  home  authorities  in  this 
matter,  and  we  hope  ere  long  the  iron  horse  will  be  snorting 
over  the  plains  of  South  Africa.  The  first  grand  trunk  will 
probably  be  laid  from  the  port  to  the  capital,  then  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  miles  further  to  "  Newcastle,"  where  lie  exten- 


GEOLOGICAL  FEATURES— GAME.  729 

sive  districts  of  coal,  bitumious,  and  said  to  equal  the  best 
English. 

It  may  be  that  Natal  will  one  day  become  a  prominent 
coaling  station,  and  when  this  valuable  article  is  consumed 
in  England,  the  mother  country  may  have  to  depend  on  her 
Natal  daughter  for  a  supply.  As  it  respects  the  geological 
features  of  the  colony,  granite,  sandstone,  trap  and  slate  are 
the  prevailing  rocks.  A  striking  characteristic  of  the  scen- 
ery is  the  tabular  shape  of  the  hills.  Immense  blocks  of 
granite  lie  at  the  base  of  a  chain  of  table  lands,  crowned  with 
sandstone,  and  covered  with  pastures,  beautiful  fountains  and 
streams. 

This  colony  may  be  designated  a  land  of  grass.  It  is  esti- 
mated that  every  acre  of  good  land  in  it  may  be  made  to  pro- 
duce an  average  of  two  tons  of  hay.  Some  think  that  the 
red  grass  abounding  in  the  upper  districts  is  of  the  same  value 
as  the  Spanish  Esparto  grass,  found  so  useful  in  making  cer- 
tain kinds  of  paper.  Its  applicability  to  this  purpose  has  not 
yet  been  tested. 

For  game,  Natal  presents  a  fine  field.  Antelopes  of  vari- 
ous kinds  abound,  such  as  the  red  ourebi,  grey  duiker,  blue 
buck,  and  the  bush  buck.  Hartebeests  and  elands,  the  largest 
specimens  of  the  antelope  family,  have  pretty  much  left  the 
colony,  but  are  found  on  the  borders.  Buffaloes,  also,  have 
become  scarce  as  Europeans  and  Zulus  have  multiplied.  I 
may  say  the  same  of  lions,  which  occupied  the  table  lands  till 
within  a  few  years.  There  still  abound  leopards,  hyenas, 
jackals,  wild  dogs  and  bears,  porcupines,  wild  pigs,  monkeyp, 
and  baboons.  Partridges,  quails,  wild  ducks,  and  a  fine  bird 
as  large  as  the  turkeys,  called  the  phow,  are  shot  in  some 
localities. 

In  religious  matters,  Natal  presents  the  strange  spectacle  of 
two  bishops,  Colenso  and  Macrorie,  both  in  the  English 
Church,  but  at  variance  theologically.  Dr.  Colenso  is  a  very 
interesting  man  in  many  respects,  kind,  genial,  warm-hearted, 
and  evidently  in  sympathy  with  missionary  operations.  A 
more  diligent  student  we  rarely  find.  In  addition  to  his  volu- 


730  MISSIONARIES. 

rainous  commentaries  on  the  Bible,  he  has  translated  portions 
of  Scripture,  the  Pilgrim's  Progress,  and  other  books  into  Zulu, 
and  made  an  excellent  dictionary  and  grammar  of  the  native 
language.  lie  is  an  eloquent  speaker,  and  never  fails  to  draw 
large  audiences. 

Though  the  English  Church  and  clergy  have  made  stren- 
uous efforts  to  depose  him,  he  still  retains  his  ecclesiastical 
status  and  salary.  His  theological  views  are  well  known  to 
the  world ;  we  need  not  refer  to  them.  A  good  likeness  of 
the  Bishop  is  given  on  next  page. 

Clergymen  under  each  of  these  bishops  have  their  preach- 
ing stations  scattered  throughout  the  colony,  as  have  also 
other  denominations — Wesleyan  Methodist,  Presbyterians, 
and  Independents,  so  that  the  European  population  is  not 
entirely  destitute  of  the  means  of  grace. 

It  is  interesting  to  contemplate  this  part  of  the  world  from 
a  philanthropic  stand-point.  Yarious  events  now  transpiring 
show  that  Providence  is  designating  it  as  the  chief  gate-way 
for  the  introduction  of  Christianity  into  the  partially  explored 
interior.  The  necessity  of  protecting  by  civilized  authority 
those  who  attempt  to  christianize  tribes  of  blood-thirsty  sav- 
ages has  been  demonstrated.  The  United  Brethren  and 
other  missionary  societies  have  attempted  in  vain  to  evan- 
gelize Africa  when  isolated  among  her  barbarous  races. 
"  The  elevation  of  Africa  can  be  effected  only  from  within 
herself.  Her  nations  must  be  raised  to  that  moral  and  politi- 
cal power  which  shall  combine  them  in  firm  resistance  to 
oppression.  To  do  this,  the  chief  points  of  commercial  influ- 
ence must  be  occupied  by  strong  and  well  regulated  colonies, 
from  which  civilization  and  religion  shall  radiate  to  the  sur- 
rounding regions." 

Natal  seems  to  be  such  a  point.  By  making  it  a  depot  of 
commerce,  science  and  religion,  Providence  is  hastening  the 
iime,  when  the  day-spring  from  on  high  shall  visit  regions 
•which  have  been  long  shrouded  in  darkness.  In  this  we  dis- 
cover a  prestige  that  the  time  to  favor  this  long  abused  con- 
tinent is  at  hand.'  The  dark  clouds  of  superstition  are  rising, 


THE  ZULU  POPULATION.  731 

that  the  light  of  Christianity  may  enter.  The  way  is  prepar- 
ing whereby  evangelical  laborers  can  be  protected,  and  fur- 
nished with  facilities  for  doing  their  work. 

"We  now  come  to  speak  of  the  Zulu  population,  not  far 
from  three  hundred  thousand  in  number  and  mostly  refugees 
from  Zulu-land.  They  are  an  interesting  people,  of  differ- 
ent shades  of  color  from  light  brown  to  black,  well  formed, 
of  erect  carriage  and  smiling  countenances,  with  teeth  well 
set  and  beautifully  white,  and  capable  of  enduring  great  fatigue 
and  hardships.  They  are  eminently  social,  and  fond  of  chat- 
ting from  morn  till  night.  Their  hair  is  curly,  but  not  so 
much  so  as  that  of  the  negro  on  the  Western  Coast,  nor  are 
their  noses  quite  so  flat  nor  their  lips  so  thick.  Of  war  they 
are  very  fond,  and  when  actually  engaged  in  conflict  their 
thirst  for  the  blood  of  their  foes  is  insatiable.  Occasionally 
they  have  violent  altercations  among  themselves,  but  their 
anger  quickly  subsides,  and  they  are  good  friends  again. 
The  following  instance  of  heroic  devotion  is  reported  to  have 
occurred  only  a  short  time  since,  and  has  hardly  a  parallel  in 
civilized  countries. 

"  A  case  of  succession  to  the  chieftainship  of  a  tribe  was 
decided  before  the  local  magistrate,  and  the  hearing  of  the  case 
was  attended  by  numerous  adherents  of  the  rival  claimants. 
After  the  decision,  as  the  chiefs  were  returning  homewards, 
the  beaten  party  were  suddenly  overtaken  by  a  grass  fire, 
whereby  thirteen  of  their  number  were  destroyed.  The 
young  claimant  to  the  chieftainship  would  have  shared  the 
same  fate,  had  not  one  of  his  followers  made  him  lie  down  on 
the  ground,  where,  covering  him  with  his  own  body  as  a 
protection  against  flames,  he  deliberately  allowed  himself  t® 
be  burnt  to  death,  and  thus  sacrificed  his  own  life  to  save 
that  of  one  whom  he  believed  to  be  his  legitimate  chieftain." 

"  These  people  are  divided  into  clans  or  tribes,  scattered 
over  the  colony,  living  chiefly  on  lands  set  apart  for  them  by 
the  British  government.  Each  tribe  has  a  distinct  chief,  and 
all  the  chiefs  are  answerable  to  the  English  magistrates  from 
whom  they  can  appeal  to  the  Secretary  for  native  affairs,  who 


732  ZULU  HOUSES. 

exercises  general  supervision.  They  pay  an  annual  tax  of  seven 
shillings  per  hut  to  the  authorities,  and  are  remarkably  loyal. 
A  chief  seldom  refuses  to  appear  before  an  English  magis- 
trate if  summoned.  Should  he  do  so  it  would  be  consider- 
ed rebellion  and  he  would  be  deprived  of  his  chieftainship  and 
"  eaten  up" — a  phrase  common  in  South  Africa ;  that  is,  strip- 
ped of  his  property. 

Their  habitations  are  kraals,  composed  of  wicker-work 
huts,  from  eight  to  twelve  feet  high,  thatched  with  long  grass 
and  impervious  to  rain.  The  opening  is  about  two  feet  in 
height,  and  answers  for  door,  window,  and  chimney.  The 
floor  is  of  ant  heap,  a  glutinous  kind  of  earth,  pounded  hard 
by  the  women  of  the  kraal,  and  smeared  daily  with  fresh 
cow's  manure.  Xear  the  opening  is  a  cavity  surrounded  by 
an  elevated  rim,  where  the  fire  is  made,  the  food  cooked,  (con- 
sisting of  Indian  corn,  pumpkins,  and  sweet  potatoes,)  and 
around  which  the  inhabitants  sit  on  their  haunches,  chatting, 
singing,  laughing,  smoking,  snuffing,  and  dozing. 

On  one  side,  rush  mats  are  spread,  on  which  they  sleep,  the 
other  side  being  occupied  by  goats  and  calves.  Pots  of  beer 
and  sour  milk,  baskets,  fire  wood,  tobacco,  stones  for  grind- 
ing, shields,  spears,  etc.,  lie  scattered  about  in  different  parts 
of  the  dwelling. 

A  kraal  has  two  circular  fences,  made  of  stakes  and  thorn 
bushes  woven  closely  together.  The  inner  fence  encloses  a 
fold,  into  which  the  cattle  are  driven  at  sundown,  the  entrance 
being  closely  barricaded  at  night  to  keep  out  wild  beasts,  or 
what  are  far  more  dreaded,  dbatdkali  (witches).* 

The  food  of  the  natives,  chiefly  Indian  corn,  is  preserved 
in  deep,  bottle-shaped  holes  dug  in  the  cattle  fold,  the  mouths 
of  which  are  closed  with  large  flat  stones,  and  then  covered 
with  solid  manure  to  the  depth  of  three  or  four  feet.  Rarely 
do  the  Zulus  utilize  their  manure  for  agricultural  purposes. 
Ashes  are  never  used,  but  thrown  into  heaps  outside  of  the 

*The  number  of  huts  planted  in  a  circle  around  this  fence,  varies  according  to 
the  number  of  wives  the  owner  of  the  kraal  possesses.  The  proprietor  of  a  Zulu 
Larem  would  never  think  of  placing  two  wives  in  one  hut. 


THE  KAFFIUS  AT  HOME. 


WOMAN'S  WORK.  735 

kraal.     When  asked  why  they  do  not  make  use  of  these  things 
like  white  people,  they  reply  : — 

"  Our  fathers  never  did  so,  nor  will  we." 

This  appeal  to  ancestral  custom  is  a  standing  argument  in 
justification  of  all  their  superstitions  and  absurdities. 

The  labor  of  digging,  planting,  harvesting,  getting  fire 
wood',  drawing  water,  grinding,  cooking,  taking  care  of  the 
children,  indeed  all  the  hard  work  is  performed  by  the  women. 
The  men  build  the  frame-work  of  the  huts  and  the  fences, 
milk  and  take  care  of  the  cows,  watch  the  gardens,  driving 
away  the  birds  and  wild  pigs,  and  this  is  about  the  extent  of 
their  employment.  Their  idea  of  otium  cum,  diynitate  is  to 
do  as  little  as  possible.  From  day  to  day  they  see  their  poor 
mothers,  wives,  and  sisters  carrying  heavy  burdens,  without 
ever  thinking  it  incumbent  on  them  to  render  them  any  assis- 
tance. 

They  spend  the  time  principally  in  hunting,  lounging, 
snuffing,  drinking  beer,  smoking,  or  bargaining  for  wive?. 
The  question  "  What  shall  we  eat  and  what  shall  we  drink, 
and  wherewithal  shall  we  b§  clothed  V  is  not  one  about  which 
they  concern  themselves.  Their  missionaries  never  find  it 
necessary  to  preach  on  the  text  "  Take  no  thought  for  the 
morrow,"  as  they  obey  this  literally.  "  Not  slothful  in  busi- 
ness," etc.,  is  the  Scripture  they  need  to  have  especially 
enforced. 

The  following  description  of  the  marriage  customs  of  the 
Zulus,  is  from  the  pen  of  one  who  is  intimately  acquainted 
with  them : — 

"  Courtship  is  generally  carried  on  so  far  as  possible  between 
the  parties  favorably  disposed  towards  each  other,  without 
the  knowledge  of  the  parents.  When  the  matter  is  fully  set- 
tled between  them,  the  girl  runs  away  from  her  own  kraal  to 
that  of  the  young  man.  The  next  day,  or  the  day  after  that, 
the  father  and  brothers  of  the  young  man,  driving  before 
them  two  or  three  head  of  cattle,  go*  to  the  kraal  from  which 
the  girl  came,  to  negotiate,  if  agreeable,  in  regard  to  the  pro- 
posed union. 

38 


736  MARRIAGE  CUSTOMS. 

"  Iii  case  no  objection  is  made,  they  are  kindly  received,  pass 
round  the  snuff-box,  and  spend  two  or  three  hours  talking 
over  the  matter.  The  bargain  is  made,  ten,  fifteen,  or  twenty 
cows  as  the  matter  may  be,  according  to  the  wealth  or  rank 
of  the  future  bridegroom's  relations.  The  cattle,  which  were 
driven  to  the  kraal,  are  retained  as  the  first  installment. 

<k  The  marriage  ceremonies  generally  take  place  in  the 
Autumn,  after  the  harvests  are  gathered  in,  and  all  have 
plenty  of  leisure.  Both  parties  have  new  dances  and  songs, 
and  it  is  a  matter  of  emulation  which  shall  excel.  The  bride 
lias  always  by  her  a  stock  of  mats,  spoons,  dishes,  etc.,  which 
she  has  been  preparing,  and  her  father  gives  her  a  blanket 
and  cattle,  according  to  his  rank. 

"  But  no  girl  ever  goes  to  her  husband  without  one  ox, 
which  is  ever  looked  on  afterwards  as  the  ox  of  the  Arnah- 
lozi  (spirits),  the  loss  of  which  by  death  would  be  considered 
a  token  of  desertion  by  the  protecting  spirits  of  her  father's 
house,  and  the  slaughter  of  which,  in  the  event  of  any  calam- 
ity (such  as  disease  or  barrenness),  is  an  acceptable  sacrifice. 

"  When  the  eventful  day  has  arrived,  the  bride  and  party, 
the  higher  the  rank  the  more  followers,  set  out  for  the  kraal, 
(which,  however,  they  will  not  enter  till  it  is  night,)  singing 
and  dancing  as  they  go.  Early  in  the  morning,  they  go  down 
to  some  stream,  wash  and  dress,  and  about  noon  come  up  and 
begin  the  dance,  the  bridegroom's  party  -looking  on. 

"  When  both  sides  have  finished,  which  may  or  may  not 
be  on  the  first  day,  a  cow  is  slaughtered  by  the  bridegroom, 
which  belongs  to  the  bride's  party.  At  night,  the  girl  wan- 
ders about  the  kraal,  followed  by  her  own  sex,  relations  of 
the  bridegroom.  She  is  crying  for  her  father's  house,  where 
she  was  well  treated.  Xow  she  is  coming  into  a  strange 
household,  where  she  may  be  ill-used,  and  has  only  the  cer- 
tainty of  hard  work.  She  is  supposed  to  be  trying  to  run 
away,  and  the  girls  to  be  preventing  her. 

"  JS'ext  day  the  husband,  his  brothers,  sisters,  and  friends, 
take  their  seat  in  the  cattle  kraal,  and  the  second  and  last  part 
of  the  ceremony  (ukuhlambisa)  takes  place.  The  bride  comes 


PROCESSION  OF  1HE  UIUDfc. 


MARRIAGE  CUSTOMS.  730 

"1 

in  with  her  party  of  girls,  carrying  in  her  hand  an  assegai 
(spear),  which,  by  the  way,  she  has  carried  all  the  time.  One 
girl  bears  a  pot  of  water  and  a  calabash,  another  some  beads. 
The  bride  ponrs  some  water  into  the  spoon,  as  also  a  few 
beads.  Then  coming  up  singing  and  dancing,  she  throws  it 
over  her  husband. 

"  She  repeats  this  with  her  brother  and  sister-in-law,  striking 
the  latter  at  the  same  time  as  a  symbol  that  she  from  that 
time,  assumes  authority  over  the  girls  in  her  husband's  house- 
hold. Immediately  this  is  done,  she  breaks  the  staff  of  the 
spear,  which  she  has  all  along  held  in  her  hand,  and  makes  a 
run  for  the  gate  of  the  kraal,  as  the  last  effort  to  get  away. 
If  she  is  not  stopped  by  a  young  man  appointed  for  the  pur- 
pose, it  is  a  great  disgrace,  and  the  husband  has  to  pay  a  cow 
to  get  her  back.  (  Ukuhlambisa '  means  to  give  wherewithal 
to  wash  the  hands.  Perhaps  it  is  a  symbol  that  on  that  day, 
she  has  washed  away  all  her  old  life.  The  marriage  rites  are 
then  finished.  No  widow  remarried  breaks  the  staff  of  the 
spear. 

"For  some  time  after  marriage  the  wife  will  not  eat  sour 
milk.  She  was  paid  with  milk-giving  cattle,  and  she  cannot 
eat  her  own  purchase  price.  But  after  a  while,  she  goes  to 
her  father,  takes  the  broken  spear  with  her,  and  returns  with 
a  goat,  or  sheep  or  cow.  This  is  slaughtered,  the  defiling 
principle  goes  off  the  milk  into  the  dead  animal,  and  hence- 
forth she  may  drink  the  milk.  In  Zulu  language,  she  has 
'  cleaned  her  spoon.'  " 

Their  forms  of  politeness  are  many,  and  strictly  adhered 
to.  When  a  stranger  arrives  at  a  kraal,  he  will  most  likely, 
if  in  the  day-time,  find  the  owner  sitting  by  the  gate.  lie 
will  Italeka,  (salute)  ;  he  will  say  umgane,  (literally  friend) 
but  it  is  a  respectful  salutation.  If  he  is  his  superior,  he 
will  place  his  spears  at  a  little  distance,  advance  and  sit  down, 
saying  nothing  till  he  is  saluted  in  turn.  Presently  the 
head  man  will  say,  Saku  bona,  (literally,  "I  see  you,") 
equivalent  to  our  "good  morning,"  and  all  around,  one  by 
one,  will  give  him  the  same  greeting.  lie  will  answer  to  each 


740  SALUTATIONS. 

one  separately  "  yebo  "  (yes,  I  agree ;)  after  that,  conversation 
may  go  on. 

If  the  owner  of  the  kraal  is  not  at  the  gate,  but  in  his  hut, 
even  although  the  visitor  did  not  come  to  see  him,  yet  he  will 
not  leave  without  going  up  to  salute  him.  It  would  be  said 
lie  was  sneaking  about  the  kraal.  If  it  is  his  chief's,  or  any 
other  chief's  kraal,  he  will  find  the  captain,  or  head  man 
under  the  chief,  and  after  saying  umgane  to  him,  he  will 
express  his  wish  to  see  the  great  man,  or  explain  his  business. 
The  captain  then  takes  him  up  to  the  king  and  he  salutes 
him.  If  he  is  of  sufficient  consequence,  the  king  salutes  him 
in  return,  asking  what  he  has  brought  him ;  if  not,  he  will  sit 
outside  the  hut,  until  he  sees  an  opening  when  he  will  begin 
his  business. 

It  is  not  etiquette  for  an  inferior  to  stand  in  the  presence 
of  a  superior;  he  must  squat  down.  They  reverse  our  idea. 
They  say  "  Is  he  to  overshadow  the  chief?"  When  he  takes 
leave  of  any  one  he  has  been  visiting  he  says,  Sola  kahle,'llt- 
erally,  remain  well.  It  is  not  etiquette  to  give  you  beer  with- 
out first  tasting  it.  It  is  a  loyal  custom  and  to  insure  you 
against  there  being  "  death  in  the  pot."  While  one  is  eating,  you 
must  not  spit,  but  you  may  blow  your  nose  as  much  as  you 
like  although  there  are  no  handkerchiefs  amongst  the  Zulus. 

The  language  of  this  people  is  philosophically  constructed, 
euphonious,  easy  of  acquisition,  and  adapted  to  music  of  which 
they  are  excessively  fond,  often  rendering  their  war  and  mar- 
riage songs  with  great  effect.  In  manufacturing  things  for 
their  own  use,  as  spears,  baskets,  mats,  milk-pails,  pottery,  &c. 
they  are  quite  skillful  and  show  themselves  capable  of  instruc- 
tion in  all  kinds  of  employment. 

Some  have  besu  taught  to  print,  and  make  excellent 
compositors.  They  also  prove  efficient  engineers  in  sugar 
mills.  One,  who  with  a  comrade  bought  a  mill  for  £700, 
after  three  days'  observation  and  instruction  was  competent 
to  run  it  himself.  The  men  and  boys  generally  carry  clubs 
and  spears  for  killing  birds,  antelopes,  snakes,  sea-cows  leo- 
pards, hyenas,  porcupines,  wild  pigs  and  other  animals. 


DRESS  AXD  ORXAMENTS.  741 

They  are  fond  of  fire-arms,  but  are  commonly  prohibited  by 
magistrates  the  possession  of  them.  The  ordinary  dress  of 
the  men  is  simply  a  few  strips  of  the  skin  of  some  wild  ani- 
mal, fastened  about  the  loins,  though  in  cold  weather  they 
wrap  themselves  up  in  a  blanket,  if  they  are  so  fortunate  as 
to  possess  one. 

The  women  wear  a  skirt  of  ox  hide  fastened  about  the 
waist.  The  married  men  wear  on  the  top  of  the  head  a  ring 
made  of  fibre  gummed  over  with  a  material  like  gutta  percha. 
This  ring  rises  with  the  growth  of  the  hair,  often  six  inches 
or  more,  and  in  the  distance  resembles  a  tall  black  cap,  is 
always  kept  in  trim,  shining  like  polished  ebony,  and  forms 
a  convenient  receptacle  for  tooth-picks,  porcupine  quills,  snuff- 
spoons,  feathers,  etc.  The  unmarried  men  have  their  hair 
dressed  in  all  sorts  of  fantastic  shapes,  now  looking  like  a 
helmet,  now  half  a  musk  melon,  and  sometimes  like  a  couple 
of  hills  with  a  deep  valley  between. 

The  married  women  shave  their  heads,  leaving  a  tuft  on 
the  crown  which  they  work  up  into  an  ornamental  top-knot, 
with  red  clay  and  tallow.  In  these  matters  there  is  no 
accounting  for  Zulu  taste  any  more  than  among  civilized 
people. 

Formerly  thej^  were  hospitable,  but  since  the  English  have 
established  hotels,  and  charge  for  "favors  received,"  they 
also  imitate  their  white  brethren,  and  in  this  as  well  as  some 
other  things  copied  from  the  Europeans,  they  go  to  an 
extreme. 

They  are  exceedingly  fond  of  dancing,  and  the  following 
is  a  good  description  of  one  of  their  dances  : — 

"  They  arrange  themselves  in  a  circle  or  semi-circle,  and 
the  dancing  consists  chiefly  in  stamping  lightly  on  the  ground, 
swinging  the  hands  up  and  down  in  unison  with  the  feet, 
and  chanting  a  kind  of  tune.  The  men  grunt  out  a  kind  of 
hum-drum  bass,  while  the  women  shout  out  and  scream,  vary- 
ing from  high  to  low  as  the  Custom  may  dictate,  and  some- 
times all  break  forth  into  shouting  and  yelling,  which  may 
be  heard  at  a  great  distance. 


742  WITCHCRAFT. 

These  orgies  frequently  commence  early  in  the  afternoon, 
and  continue  into  the  night.  The  sport  is  sometimes  height- 
ened by  introducing  a  bullock  into  the  ring.  As  he  goes 
round  and  round,  one  pulls  his  tail,  another  seizes  his  foot,  or 
performs  some  other  foolish  feat.  If  the  ox  breaks  through 
the  circle,  as  he  sometimes  does,  the  whole  company  set  Tip  a 
tremendous  shouting  as  they  rush  away,  trying  to  surround 
the  animal  and  bring  him  back  to  his  place. 

At  these  dances  the  people  often  shout  till  they  become 
hoarse,  and  by  exposing  themselves  to  the  night  air  in  a  state 
of  profuse  perspiration,  many  of  them  contract  rheumatic  and 
pulmonary  diseases  which  serve  to  embitter  and  shorten  their 
days." 

The  religion  of  the  Zulus  we  may  designate  as  spirit  wror- 
ehip.  Witchcraft  enters  largely  into  it.  The  witches  are 
supposed  to  be  human  beings,  prowling  about  at  night  with 
wild  beasts,  and  like  them,  carrying  poisons,  which  they  leave 
in  the  pathway  or  in  the  food  of  those  appointed  to  destruc- 
tion. Nothing  do  they  dread  so  much  as  a  witch.  All  their 
lifetime  are  they  in  bondage  through  fear  of  death  from  this 
source.  As  in  their  heathen  state  they  rarely  see  any  natural 
cause  for  death,  except  in  case  of  accident,  decrepitude,  or 
decay,  and  never  regard  it  as  the  ordering  of  divine  Providence, 
it  is  attributed  to  the  machinations  of  a  wizard  or  poisoner. 
To  ferret  out  the  machinator,  resort  is  had  to  extraneous  aid. 
A  spirit  doctor  living  oftentimes  a  long  way  off  is  sent  for  to 
consult  the  ancestral  spirits,  and  obtain  definite  knowledge  in 
regard  to  the  origin  of  this  calamity.  They  readily  pay  him 
beforehand,  though  rarely  if  ever  their  medical  practitioner, 
unless  a  cure  is  effected.  If  not  successful  in  his  mission,  they 
coolly  remark : — 

"  That  man  did  not  understand  his  profession.  He  has  no 
established  connection  with  the  spirit  world ; "  so,  nothing 
daunted,  they  Bend  for  another  "  medium. " 

These  spiritual  quacks,  are  the  foes  of  all  Christianizing 
agencies.  Like  Simon  of  old  they  perceive  that  their  craft 


MISSIONARY    STATION. 


TABLE    MOUNTAIN    AND    KKAAL' 


THE  ZULU  MANIA  FOR  WIVES.  715 

is  in  danger  by  working  on  the  popular  superstitions,  they 
constantly  strengthen  the  ancestral  belief  in  regard  to  the 
influence  of  departed  spirits  on  human  life  and  destiny. 
Kemove  from  the  Zulu  his  faith  in  the  "  spirit  doctors "  to ' 
find  out  from  the  spirit  world  what  is  beyond  the  knowledge 
of  other  mortals,  and  you  at  once  undermine  his  religion. 

It  is  easy  to  see  how  formidable  an  obstacle  Zulu  spiritualism 
presents  to  Evangelistic  eiforts,  but  Polygamy  their  idol  and 
curse,  is  a  still  greater  one.  All  that  a  Zulu  man  hath  will 
he  give  for  wives,  and  the  number  he  possesses,  is  limited 
only  by  the  number  of  cows  he  has  with  which  to  purchase 
them.  The  market  price  of  a  stout,  healthy  girl  of  fourteen 
years,  formerly  ranged  from  fifteen  to  thirty  cows,  and  the 
avaricious  old  men  with  a  plurality  of  wives  and  numerous 
children,  were  able  to  monopolize  the  wife  market,  contin-. 
ually  increasing  their  own  stock,  raising  the  price  of  females, 
and  thereby  rendering  it  difficult  for  young  men  to  obtain 
partners  for  life.  By  a  late  act  of  legislation  on  the  part  of 
the  English  government  this  difficulty  has  been  partially 
remedied. 

As  the  law  now  stands,  no  Zulu  father  can  collect 
in  court  of  justice  more  than  ten  cows  for  his  daughter. 
Every  marriage  must  be  registered,  and  £5  must  be  paid  by 
the  bridegroom  for  a  marriage  license.  The  young  men, 
whom  the  girls  generally  prefer,  are  now  better  able  to 
purchase  helpmeets,  and  Polygamy  is  somewhat  curtailed. 

Doubtless  this  abomination  would  have  been  checked  long 
ago,  were  it  not  that  the  safety  of  Natal  depends  somewhat 
on  the  divisions  of  the  various  native  tribes,  and  any  strin- 
gent law  suppressing  it  entirely,  would  result  in  a  combina- 
tion of  the  natives  against  the  colonists.  Only  those  who  have 
witnessed  the  working  of  Polygamy,  and  its  kindred  evil  of 
chattelizing  females,  can  form  a  clear  idea  of  its  degrading 
influence,  and  the  strong  counteracting  agency  it  presents  to 
all  benevolent  efforts.  The  family  institution  is  in  ruins. 
Woman  is  a  slave  and  drudge.  Contemplate  for  a  moment 
the  heathen  Zulu  wife  creeping  into,  or  seated  in  her  hut  of 


740  PICTURE  OF  A  ZULU  WOMAN'S  LIFE. 

haystack  architecture,  without  window,  door  two  feet  high 
and  eighteen  inches  wide ;  this  one  room  the  kitchen,  parlor 
and  bed-room,  with  a  part  fenced  off  for  goats  and  calves ! 

She  has  prepared  the  morning  meal  for  her  lord  and  master, 
which  is  boiled  corn,  mashed  and  mixed  with  sour  milk  He 
eats  alone,  giving  what  he  leaves  to  the  hungry  children  or 
more  hungry  dogs.  The  wife  must  provide  for  herself. 
Fear  and  distrust  reign  there  ;  she  brings  him  beer,  but  must 
first  sip  herself  to  show  that  there  is  no  "  death  in  the  pot." 
While  he  lounges,  smokes,  snuffs,  hunts  the  antelope,  guzzles 
beer,  or  gads  from  kraal  to  kraal,  discussing  a  recent  case 
of  witchcraft,  or  the  market  price  of  wives,  or  gorges  him- 
self with  beef  like  a  boa  constrictor,  she,  with  a  child  on 
her  back  and  a  heavy  pick  on  her  shou  Ider,  goes  to  the  fields, 
digs  the  hard  soil  all  day  long,  or  pulls  the  rank  weeds  from 
the  garden,  and  returns  home  at  night  with  a  heavy  bundle 
of  fire-wood  on  her  head.  She  must  serve  as  the  plow,  cart, 
horse  and  ox. 

Soon  another  wife  comes  to  the  kraal.  Now  arise 
envies,  jealousies  and  strife  ;  perhaps  poison  is  administered  ; 
the  prophet  of  the  tribe  is  called,  and  she  is  pronounced  a 
witch  unfit  to  live ;  or  if  she  survives  a  few  years,  see  her  in 
a  dying  hour,  no  light  on  the  dark  river,  no  faith  in  any 
Redeemer,  no  rest  beyond  the  grave,  no  words  of  sympathy 
from  gazing  friends,  she  turns  one  side  and  dies ;  and  where 
is  she  ? 

O,  the  miseries  of  poor  heathen  Zulu  women  !  Obliged  to 
do  all  the  hard  work,  and  bear  all  the  heavy  burdens,  at 
thirty,  they  look  like  old  and  decrepit  women  of  seventy.  To  a 
home,  "  sweet  home,"  where  peace,  comfort  and  joy  reign, 
they  are  absolute  strangers.  Were  we  to  picture  out  the  full 
effect  of  that  soul-withering  power,  heathenism, 

"  We'd  write  a  book,  which  whoso  dared  to  read, 
His  eyes,  instead  of  tears,  in  crimson  drops  would  bleed." 

And  yet  the  question  is  sometimes  asked,  "  Are  not  the 
heathen  as  they  are  found  in  their  normal  state  happy  ? "  In  a 
degraded  sense  they  are  so,  and  occasionally  there  gleams 


THE  ZULUS  AN  INTERESTING  PEOPLE.         747 

forth  a  ray  of  that  superior  joy  which,  if  developed  by  Chris- 
tianity, would  gladden  their  whole  social  existence ;  but  gen- 
erally their  enjoyment  is  more  like  that  of  brutes.  Give  not 
to  heathen  joys  the  misnomer,  happiness.  A  poet  has  truth- 
fully described  the  heathen  without  the  gospel  in  these 
words : — 

"  No  hope,  no  peace,  no  joy  they  have, 
Nor  ray  of  light  beyond  the  grave, 
No  book  to  guide,  no  grace  to  cheer, — 
Their  freedom  bondage, — their  religion  fear ; 
These,  behold !  are  nature's  sons  the  while, 
All  nature's  fair,  and  only  these  are  vile  ; 
Come  nature,  bring  your  choicest  treasures  forth, 
Without  thy  God  what  are  thy  children  worth?" 

Enough  has  been  said  to  show  that  the  Zulus  though  very 
degraded  are  an  interesting  people.  The  reader  will  naturally 
ask,  "What  is  being  done  for  their  elevation?"  "We  would 
say  in  reply,  only  an  imperfect  impression  can  be  given  on 
paper.  American  and  European  missionaries  are  in  the  field, 
the  former  having  taken  the  lead.  Messrs.  Grout,  Champion 
and  Adams  landed  in  Natal  in  1835.  Durban  was  then 
but  a  plain  of  sand,  with  scarcely  a  vestige  of  civilization 
visible,  where  wild  beasts  and  wild  men  roamed  at  their 
pleasure.  Those  men  did  not  go  to  that  distant  part  of  the 
world  in  quest  of  wealth,  but  to  elevate  degraded  savages. 

Though  interrupted  by  wars,  they  adhered  to  their  work 
with  a  devotion  truly  sublime.  The  results  of  their  self-sac- 
fice,  as  recorded  in  missionary  publications  from  year  to  year, 
show  that  the  hand  of  the  Lord  has  been  upon  them  for  good. 
Deep  and  broad  are  the  foundations  of  religious  institu- 
tions which  have  been  laid.  The  first  obstacle  they  had  to 
overcome  was  profound  ignorance.  They  found  the  natives 
with  no  written  language,  and  were  obliged  to  commence  at 
the  bottom. 

Xot  only  was  it  necessary  to  reduce  the  language  to  writing, 
make  books  and  teach,  but  to  create  a  desire  to  be  taught. 
For  years,  their  indifference  to  learning  was  very  dishearten- 
ing. A  knowledge  of  the  alphabet  generally  proceeded  the 


74:8  HOPE  OF  THE  CHRISTIAN  PHILANTHROPIST. 

casting  away  of  the  rude  heathen  dress  made  of  the  skins  of 
wild  animals,  and  putting  on  some  article  of  civilized  cloth- 
ing. About  twenty  years  ago,  a  missionary  in  Natal  remark- 
ed that  "  a  shirt  was  the  anxious-seat  of  the  Zulus,"  and 
there  \vas  truth  in  it ;  for  at  that  time,  we  can  hardly  conceive 
that  any  one  Avould  venture  thus  to  encroach  upon  native  cus- 
tom, were  he  not  animated  by  the  highest  of  motives. 

But  it  is  not  so  now.  A  desire  is  often  manifested  among 
the  heathen  for  these  very  garments  which  once  excited  such 
ridicule  and  opposition.  Were  it  not  that  they  find  other  uses 
for  their  money,  such  as  paying  taxes,  and  buying  cattle  to 
barter  for  wives,  many  of  them  would  be  glad  to  wear  cloth- 
ing in  cold  weather.  In  summer  it  might  be  considered  an 
incumbrance.  It  is  amusing  to  witness  the  effect  of  a  little 
learning  and  a  few  articles  of  dress,  in  raising  a  Zulu's  tone 
of  self-importance.  S-ome,  after  being  under  the  civilizing 
process  only  a  few  days,  regard  themselves  as  on  the  road  to 
faith,  according  to  their  idea  of  what  faith  is. 

The  time  required  to  teach  a  Zulu  to  read  fluently  depends 
chiefly  on  his  natural  talent.  Some  are  able  to  read  well  in 
six  months,  but  most  require  a  longer  time.  In  mental  as 
well  as  physical  ability  we  may  regard  them  naturally  in  no 
respects  inferior  to  the  whites,  and  as  capable  of  as  high  a 
degree  of  cultivation  as  any  people  on  the  face  of  the  globe. 
They  are  not  only  emotional,  but  logical,  have  retentive  mem- 
ories, are  fond  of  controversy,  and  can  "  split  hairs "  equal 
to  any  Yankee  lawyer.  As  Christian  and  civilizing  agencies 
have  made  the  descendants  of  other  once  enlightened  nations 
what  they  are  to-day,  the  same  agencies  if  faithfully  applied, 
will  raise  these  people  to  a  like  state  of  improvement. 

There  are  five  ordained  pastors  who  are  doing  a  good  work. 
One  of  them,  the  Rev.  James  Dube,  settled  over  the  church  at 
Inanda,  is  a  fine  specimen.  The  following  sketch  by  Rev.  Mr. 
Lindley  is  a  very  truthful  one : — 

"  James  Dube  is  the  son  of  Dube,  who  was  the  chief  of  the 
tribe,  and  is  the  half  brother  of  the  present  chief.  While  he 
has  renounced  every  rag  and  tatter  of  heathenism,  he  is  still 


A  NATIVE  PASTOR.  751 

greatly  respected  by  his  people.  They  know  him  to  be  a  true 
man,  a  wise  man, — inside  and  outside,  a  noble  man.  His 
height  is  over  seventy-three  inches,  and  his  weight  not  less 
than  one  hundred  and  ninety  five  pounds.  Till  he  recently 
became  a  little  too  corpulent,  his  personal  symmetry  was  about 
perfect.  It  is  only  a  good  eye  that  will  see  a  faint  trace  of 
the  African  type  in  his  speaking  face.  It  is  rare  that  a  stran- 
ger sees  him  without  asking,  "  Who  is  that  fine  looking  man  ?" 
I  do  not  know  a  black  man  who,  in  imposing  personal  appear- 
ance, is  equal  to  the  first  native  pastor  of  the  church  at  Inan- 
da.  I  say  this  simply  to  add,  in  few  words,  that  in  mind 
and  religious  character  he  is  equal  to  his  outward  appearance. 
It  was  with  the  hearty  approval  of  our  whole  mission  that  he 
was  ordained,  and  we  have  a  strong  hope  that  he  will  prove 
himself  to  be  a  workman  of  whom  we  shall  never  be 
ashamed." 

The  portrait  of  Mr.  Dube  is  from  a  photograph  taken  at 
Natal. 

The  hope  of  the  Christian  philanthropist  lies  in  the  education 
of  the  youth.  Hence  pains,  are  taken  to  establish  good  train- 
ing institutions.  At  two  of  the  stations  connected  with  the 
A.  B.  C.  F.  M.,  are  seminaries,  one  for  .boys,  the  other  for 
girls,  which  are  flourishing.  The  graduates  of  these  schools 
find  no  difficulty  in  obtaining  situations  as  teachers.  Thus 
under  the  process  of  literary,  religious  and  social  culture,  this 
people  are  rising  from  the  filth  of  heathenism. 

The  books  which  have  been  printed  in  their  language  are 
the  New  Testament  and  parts  of  the  Old,  hymn  books,  arith- 
metics, a  geography  and  ecclesiastical  history,  Pilgrim's 
Progress,  "  Dairy  Man's  Daughter,"  'l  African  Servant,"  and 
other  tracts.  For  eight  years  a  little  monthly  journal  called 
the  "  Ikwezi,"  or  Morning  Star,  circulated  among  them. 

A  desire  for  information  is  increasing.  Light  is  extending. 
Christianity,  like  leaven,  is  working  among  the  masses.  Quad- 
rangular, neatly  whitewashed  houses  are  taking  the  place  of 
low,  uncomfortable,  bee-hive  huts.  The  men  are  realizing  their 
true  position,  and  by  the  use  of  oxen  and  plows,  which  they 


752  A  MISSIONARY'S  TESTIMONY 

purchase  as  fast  as  they  are  able,  relieve  their  poor  mothers, 
Wives,  and  sistersj  of  the  burdens  heathenism  has  imposed  on 
them.  The  heathen  are  often  ready  to  acknowledge  that 
epirit  worship  is  not  the  true  religion ;  that  polygamy  is 
degrading  and  unworthy  their  higher  natures.  The  daily 
schools  with  a  thousand  pupils,  hundreds  of  intelligent  church 
members,  prayer  meetings  well  sustained,  a  missionary  society 
supported  by  voluntary  contributions,  large  congregations  on 
the  Sabbath,  singing  with  modulated  voice  and  in  good  taste, 
"  The  morning  light  is  breaking,"  "  Nearer,  my  God,  to  Thee," 
the  native  Pastorate  supported  in  a  measure  by  the  people 
— these  and  other  things  which  might  be  mentioned,  are 
gratifying  marks  of  progress  and  bright  omens  for  the  future. 

Then  there  are  many  things  calculated  to  discourage  the  mis- 
sionary in  his  self-denying  labors.  The  standard  of  piety  is 
low  among  many  of  the  church  members.  The  converts  from 
heathenism  are  mere  babes,  and  need  constant  watching.  Old 
habits  and  superstitions  have  not  wholly  lost  their  power  over 
them,  and  occasionally  there  is  perceptible  hankering  for 
the  "  flesh  pots  "  of  polygamy  on  the  part  of  those  who  were 
considered  as  proof  against  it ;  but  the  work  goes  on  in  spite 
of  all  obstacles,  and  is  destined  to  go  on  until  every  son  of 
Ham  has  "  light  in  his  dwelling." 

Is  it  surprising  that  one  of  the  pioneers  of  missionary 
efforts  in  South  Africa,  when  looking  back  upon  nearly  forty 
years  of  toil  and  devotion,  used  the  following  language  ?— 

"  If  I  was  a  fool  in  the  eyes  of  some  men,  I  have  lived  to 
gee  a  hundred-fold  more  done  than  I  ever  dreamed  that  I 
might  effect  in  a  long  life,  and  have  enjoyed  a  hundred-fold 
more  than  I  expected.  Every  promise  of  God  has  been 
abundantly  fulfilled  to  me." 


JPffll 


CHAPTER  XLYI. 
THE  SOUTH  AFRICAN  DIAMOND  FIELDS. 

SITUATED  between  26°  and  30°  S.  lat.,  and  22°  and  28° 
E.  long.,  on  both  sides  of  the  Yaal  River,  lie  the  Dia- 
mond Fields  of  South  Africa.  On  the  southern  borders 
runs  the  Orange  River,  a  large  and  magnificent  stream. 

The  Yaal  River  is  also  a  beautiful  stream,  its  borders 
being  lined  with  handsome  trees.  Opposite  the  Diamond 
Fields  its  width  is  nearly  two  hundred  feet.  It  is  peculiarly 
noticeable  on  account  of  the  following,  through  its  entire 
length,  of  smooth,  deep  \vater,  by  falls  varying  from  ten  to 
thirty  feet;  either  stretch  of  smooth  water  being  hardly 
more  than  a  mile  in  length.  The  river  at  times  is  very  low, 
but  never  dry.  Upon  the  banks  of  this  stream  thousands  of 
men  are  now  engaged  in  searching  for  the  precious  stones. 

The  Diamond  Fields  of  South  Africa  occupy  the  same 
position  that  California  did  years  ago,  with  this  disadvantage, 
that  but  very  little  was  known  of  the  country  in  which  they 
lie,  when  the  account  of  the  dazzling  gems  found  upon  them 
was  first  published. 

All  the  information  given  to  the  world  as  yet  respecting 
them  has  been  of  that  vague  nature,  and  has  come  through 
such  unreliable  channels,  that  thousands  who,  if  they  had 
known  the  real  truth  respecting  the  operations  there,  or  could 
have  felt  assured  that  the  stories  they  had  heard  had  a  fair 
share  of  truth,  would  have  been  on  their  way  long  ago,  and 
would  now  be  located  and  at  work,  in  one  of  the  pleasantest, 

755 


V5G  THE  DIAMOND  FIELDS. 

and  healthiest  lands  on  the  face  of  the  globe,  are  still  in 
doubt  as  to  its  reliability. 

The  climate  is  mild  and  even,  and  with  the  exception  of  a 
mild  type  of  fever,  prevalent  at  certain  seasons,  no  particular 
disease  prevails.     All  through  what  are  our  summer  months 
no  rain  falls  there,  the  nights  are  cool,  and  ice  forms. 

The  region  on  which  it  is  supposed  diamonds  can  be  found, 
embraces  an  area  of  many  thousand  square  miles,  and  is  claim- 
ed by  different  governments  and  chiefs.  The  Orange  River 
Free  State  Government,  lays  claim  to  that  portion  lying  east 
of  the  Vaal  river.  This  is  a  Dutch  Republic.  It  originated 
in  the  emigration  of  the  Dutch  population  of  Cape  Town, 
when  it  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  English.  This  govern- 
ment has  been  recognized  within  the  past  two  years  by  the 
United  States,  as  well  as  that  of  another  one,  of  Dutch  origin, 
viz :  the  Transvaal  Republic,  which  claims  that  part  of  the 
Diamond  Fields  lying  west  of  the  Vaal. 

The  capital  of  the  Orange  River  Free  State  is  called  Bloem- 
fontien,  a  handsome  town  of  about  one  thousand  inhabitants, 
and  is  about  one  hundred  miles  from  Pniel,  the  central  point 
of  the  Diamond  Fields. 

The  capital  of  the  Transvaal  Republic  is  called  Pretoria, 
and  is  situated  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles  northeast 
from  Pniel,  on  the  route  to  Delagoa  Bay,  a  well  known  port, 
some  six  hundred  miles  north  of  Natal.  The  idea  that  many 
have,  that  to  visit  the  South  African  Diamond  Fields,  a  per- 
son must  encounter  a  dangerous  climate,  travel  through  sav- 
age tribes,  and  run  the  risk  of  being  eaten  by  cannibals,  is 
all  nonsense ;  not  half  the  peril  is  encountered  in  a  trip  to 
these  mines,  that  every  early  miner  in  California  met  with, 
for  the  native  races  that  live  on  and  around  these  fields, 
although  called  uncivilized  by  us,  have  not  yet  learned  of 
their  civilized  white  brethren,  how  to  commit  the  fashionable 
crimes  of  theft  and  murder ;  and  therefore,  they  still  recog- 
nize a  man's  right  to  his  own  property  and  life,  and  avoid  all 
interference  with  them  if  possible. 

There  are  three  routes  to  the  Diamonds  Fields — one  from 


LEAVING    PORT    NATAL. 


ROUTES  TO  THE  FIELDS.  759 

Cape  Town,  ono  from  Port  Elizabeth,  arid  one  from  Port  Natal. 
The  distance  from  Cape  Town  is  about  seven  hundred  miles, 
in  a  north  easterly  direction.  A  company  run  a  line  of  wagons 
there  regularly,  accomplishing  the  journey  in  ten  days.  It  is 
the  most  feasible  method  of  reaching  the  mines,  undoubtedly. 
Cape  Town  is  situated  almost  at  the  southern  extremity  of  the 
Continent.  Three  mountains  enclose  the  town,  one  of  which 
— the  Table  Mountain — rises  nearly  four  thousand  feet  above 
the  level  of  the  sea.  Cape  Town  was  founded  in  1G52 — by 
the  Dutch,  but  now  belongs  to  England ;  it  contains  about 
forty  thousand  inhabitants,  the  Colony  about  half  a  million, 
of  which,  about  one  fourth  are  Europeans. 

Port  Elizabeth  is  situated  about  five  hundred  miles  easterly 
of  Cape  Town,  and  has  a  population  of  about  twelve  thousand, 
mostly  Europeans.  Its  commerce  is  large,  a  line  of  clipper 
ships  run  direct  there  from  Boston.  The  distance  from  this 
place  to  the  Diamond  Fields  is  about  four  hundred  and  fifty 
miles,  the  time  occupied  by  oxen  and  wagons  is  about  twenty 
days. 

Port  Natal  is  about  five  hundred  miles  north  easterly  from 
Port  Elizabeth,  and  has  been  fully  described  in  a  proceeding 
chapter.  The  distance  from  here  to  the  Diamond  Fields  is  u 
little  greater  than  from  Port  Elizabeth,  still  there  are  some 
advantages  in  starting  from  this  place,  particularly  if  oxen  and 
wagons  are  used  for  a  conveyance.  These  can  be  purchased 
at  good  advantage  at  Durban.  An  usual  team  consists  of  a 
large  covered  wagon  drawn  by  sixteen  oxen,  with  two  or  three 
native  drivers.  Such  teams  are  constantly  starting  for  the 
mines  from  this  point.  Our  illustrations  of  the  start  and  on 
the  road,  were  drawn  from  life. 

The  Diamonds  are  sought  for  in  two  ways :  by  washing  and 
by  dry  digging.  At  first  the  business  was  confined  to  the 
last  only,  and  it  was  supposed  that  only  the  surface  of  the  soil 
contained  them.  This  idea  has  been  found  to  be  an  erroneous 
one,  and  claims  are  now  worked  to  the  depth  of  thirty  or 
forty  feet.  The  Californian  cradle  has  been  brought  intense, 
also,  and  dirt  is  now  carted  quite  a  distance,  for  washing. 


760  DISCOVERY  OF  DIAMONDS. 

The  scene  at  some  localities  is  a  spirited  one ;  as  far  almost  as 
the  eye  can  see,  the  fields  are  dotted  with  shanties  and  busy- 
men  and  women  are  seen,  hard  at  work,  searching  for  the  prec- 
ious stones.  Dutch  farmers,  are  there  with  their  teams,  vrows, 
and  sturdy  sons  and  daughters,  all  come  up  to  work  a  while 
at  the  fascinating  business.  Many  of  them  return  soon,  with 
treasures  enough  to  make  them  satisfied  for  life. 

The  discovery  of  diamonds  in  this  region  was  made  about 
six  years  ago.  A  large  diamond  was  found  in  the  possession 
of  a  boy,  by  a  trader,  and  purchased  by  him  for  a  trifle.  It 
proved  to  be  worth  $2,500.  Another  was  found  about  a  year 
after  in  the  possession  of  a  native  doctor.  It  was  sold  for 
about  $50,000.  Its  weight  was  eighty-three  carats.  As  the 
matter  became  talked  of,  the  natives  commenced  a  search  for 
the  stones,  forming  long  lines  and  connecting  hands,  and  thus 
walking  over  fields  and  scrutinizing  every  inch  of  the  ground. 
But  soon  the  news  spread,  and  great  excitement  ensued. 

In  1870  a  company  was  formed  for  prospecting,  and  from 
that  moment  the  history  of  Calif orni an  and  Australian  mining 
has  been  repeated.  Thousands  have  flocked  to  the  locality, 
a  few  to  become  rich,  many  to  be  doomed  to  disappointment. 

Great  success  has,  however,  generally  attended  well  directed 
efforts.  One  company  took  out  of  a  small  plot  of  ground 
nearly  half  a  million  dollars'  worth  of  diamonds  in  two  months. 

A  government  has  been  organized  by  the  miners,  and  strict 
laws  adopted  and  enforced.  As  a  general  thing  order  reigns, 
and  but  few  scenes  of  violence  occur. 

The  great  distance  of  these  fields  from  Europe  and  America 
has  a  tendency  to  keep  back  many  who  otherwise  would  go, 
and  the  limited  means  of  knowing  the  truth  has  also  acted  as 
a  preventive  to  thousands. 

Pniel  is  the  great  centre  of  operations.  A  newspaper 
called  the  "  Diamond  News  "  is  printed  there,  and  is  likely 
to  prove  a  success. 

Many  attempts  have  been  made  by  parties  to  obtain  control 
of  large  tracts  of  the  territory  but  such  efforts  have  proved 
abortive.  The  temper  of  the  miners  is  such,  that  while  they 


LIMPOPO  GOLD  MINES.  763 

are  willing  and  ready  to  pay  a  fair  license  to  the  real  owners 
of  the  soil,  for  the  privilege  of  working  it,  they  will  resist 
every  attempt  made  by  those  owners,  to  give  exclusive  rights 
of  large  tracts  to  any  party,  and  they  will  recognize  no  title 
obtained,  or  rights  granted  by  native  chiefs,  or  pretended 
authorities. 

A  controversy  having  arisen  between  the  Transvaal  Repub- 
lic and  others,  as  to  the  ownership  and  sovereignty  of  a  por- 
tion of  the  Fields ;  and  it  becoming  apparent  that  trouble 
and  perhaps  bloodshed  would  be  the  result,  Great  Britain 
with  her  usual  promptitude  stepped  in  and  claimed  the  whole 
section  as  her  territory ;  and  the  Orange  River  Free  State,  the 
Transvaal  Republic,  and  all  others  interested,  will  have  to 
submit. 

The  English  Government  keep  quite  a  force  of  cavalry 
stationed  there,  that  maintain  good  order,  and  all  contentions 
as  to  rights  of  property,  are  settled  by  the  authorities  holding 
under  that  government. 

For  some  time  rich  gold  lands  have  been  known  to  ex- 
ist near  the  junction  of  the  Limpopo  and  Zambesi  rivers, 
but  nothing  has  been  announced  relating  to  them  sufficient  to 
awaken  much  interest  in  them.  No  doubt  exists  however, 
that  a  fair  yield  of  gold  would  be  obtained  by  proper 
efforts.  The  nearest  and  best  route  to  these  lands  is  from 
Delegoa  Bay.  The  reader  by  reference  to  the  map  of  Africa 
on  page  eighteen,  will  be  able  to  locate  the  different  points 
described. 

39 


CHAPTER  XLVH. 
THE  EAST  AFRICAN  SLAYE-TKADE. 

TO  the  shame  of  the  nineteenth  century  the  traffic  in 
Negro  slaves  still  lingers,  nay  flourishes,  on  the  East 
Coast  of  the  African  Continent.  Thanks  to  the  combined 
public  sentiment  and  efforts  of  Christian  civilization  in  general, 
and  to  the  anti-slavery  enterprise  of  England  in  particular, 
the  shipment  of  slaves  from  the  West  Coast  is  practically 
ended. 

If  Dr.  Livingstone  had  done  nothing  more  than  to  call  the 
attention  of  the  world  to  the  still  putrid  condition  of  this 
plague-spot  on  humanity  which  the  majority  of  men  had 
considered  as  virtually  healed,  his  last  mission  to  Africa 
would  not  have  been  in  vain.  The  letters  which  the  great 
traveler  sent  home  by  Stanley  have  astonished  governments 
as  well  as  individuals  by  their  disclosures,  and  a  spirit  has 
been  roused  which  promises  effectually  to  put  an  end  to  all 
trade  by  man  in  his  brother  man.  "We  propose  to  give  a 
brief  account  of  this  East  African  slave-trade  as  it  now  exists, 
and  of  the  men  and  measures  by  whom  and  by  which  it  is 
proposed  to  put  a  final  extinguisher  on  this  most  inhuman 
traffic. 

Zanzibar,  the  only  open  slave-market  now  existing  in  the 
world,  is  situated  on  the  island  of  Zanzibar  in  latitude  6°  S. 
The  market  place  is  described  as  an  irregular,  unpaved,  oblong 
space,  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  long  by  ninety  feet  wide, 
with  palm-thatched  huts  on  three  of  its  sides.  Here  tens  of 
thousands  of  negroes  are  annually  sold,  a  few  to  go  to  the 

764 


THE  EAST  AFRICAN  SLAVE-TRADE.  765 

Spanish  "West  India  isles,  but  the  great  majority  to  Arabia. 
The  sale  generally  commences  about  four  o'clock  in  the 
afternoon,  and  at  five  business  may  be  said  to  be  at  its  height. 
The  centre  of  the  market  is  occupied  by  the  slaves,  who  are 
seated  in  rows  on  the  ground.  Walking  around  and  criticis- 
ing the  various  lots,  are  to  be  seen  men  of  every  race  belong- 
ing to  Eastern  Africa  and  Arabia,  from  the  wild  Arab  of 
Oman  who  means  to  purchase  thirty  or  forty  slaves,  to  the 
fierce  Somauli  who  intends  a  small  speculation  of  three  or 
four  only. 

The  English  stranger  is  looked  upon  by  the  Arabs  with 
anything  but  favor,  especially  if  his  aspect  is  at  all  nautical ; 
as  the  ships  of  war  in  the  harbor  is  only  waiting  for  the 
change  of  the  monsoon,  at  which  time  the  numerous  slave- 
carrying  dhows  sail  for  the  north.  She  will  then  lie  in  wait 
for  them,  and  capture  such  of  those  vessels  as  may  fall  in 
her  way. 

Apart  from  the  other  slaves  and  standing  up,  are  to  be 
seen  the  choice  female  specimens.  Females  are  the  special 
favorites  with  the  Arabs,  and  it  is  a  revolting  sight  to  see  a 
lascivious  Arab,  wishing  to  add  to  the  number  of  his  harem, 
examining  the  objects  of  his  purchase  before  closing  a  bargain. 
The  average  price  of  male  slaves  is  from  fifteen  to  twenty 
dollars,  while  the  female  sells  at  from  forty  to  one  hundred 
and  twenty  dollars. 

This  shipment  of  negroes  to  Arabia  has  been  effected 
under  the  sanction  of  treaties  made  by  the  petty  sultanate  of 
Muscat  with  England,  France,  and  the  United  States.  The 
news  will  be  joyfully  welcomed  by  all  lovers  of  freedom,  that 
England  is  determined  to  put  down  the.  hideous  traffic. 
But  in  order  to  understand  the  relations  of  England  and  other 
powers  to  this  trade  and  to  appreciate  the  difficulties  sur- 
rounding the  question,  a  brief  sketch  of  the  recent  history 
of  Muscat  and  of  the  present  condition  of  slavery  there,  is 
copied  from  the  London  Times. 

"  Twenty-five  years  ago  that  little  Power,  under  the  sway 
of  an  exceptionally  able  Sultan,  prospered  greatly  in  influence 


766         THE  EAST  AFRICAN  SLAVE-TRADE. 

and  wealth,  and  included,  not  only  its  present  territory  on 
the  shore  of  the  Persian  Gulf,  but  also  the  island  of  Zan- 
zibar. At  that  time,  indeed,  she  promised  to  become  one  of 
the  most  civilized  of  the  minor  Asiatic  States.  Presents 
were  exchanged  with  most  of  the  Great  Powers,  and  their 
counsel  in  diplomacy,  and  their  teaching  in  all  the  useful  arts 
were  solicited  with  an  ardor  very  much  more  sincere  than 
that  which  inspires  the  Viceroy  of  Egypt  or  the  Sultan  of 
Turkey  when  they  make  a  '  progressive '  speech  on  the  eve 
of  issuing  a  new  loan.  Thus  it  came  about  that  England, 
France  and  America  cheerfully  entered  into  these  now  obnox- 
ious treaties 'of  commerce  with  so  enlightened  a  government. 

But  twenty  years  since,  the  good  Sultan  died,  and  his  king- 
dom fell  into  a  state  of  anarchy  which  has  ever  since  been 
deepening  in  confusion,  and  which  has  ruined  the  lands  which 
his  wise  sceptre  was  redeeming  from  poverty  and  ignorance. 

During  these  latter  evil  days  a  certain  clause  in  the  treat- 
ies of  commerce  has  been  found  to  be  a  very  serious  source 
of  trouble.  Slavery  of  a  certain  mild  type,  such  as  will  be 
described  below,  has  prevailed  in  all  Moslem  lands,  of  course, 
from  time  immemorial,  and  Muscat  chiefly  drew  its  supply 
of  bondmen  from  Zanzibar.  Under  the  old  Sultan  the  traffic 
was  conducted  with  very  humane  provisions,  and  as  it  was 
impossible  to  hope  for  anything  but  a  gradual  abolition  of  the 
institution,  the  various  civilized  Powers  agreed  to  clauses 
being  inserted  in  the  treaties  permitting  the  transportation 
of  slaves  between  Muscat  and  Zanzibar — a  condition  being 
exacted  that  such  slaves  should  be  for  the  tonafide  consump- 
tion of  Muscat,  and  should  not  be  re-exported  to  Persia  and 
Mesopotamia,  and  thus  northward  and  westward  all  over  the 
Turkish  Empire  and  into  Central  Asia. 

While  the  old  Sultan  lived  his  influence  was  successfully 
used  to  carry  out  this  contract  in  good  faith,  but  in  the 
troubles  that  followed  his  death  the  smuggling  of  slaves 
through  this  open  gate  has  been  freely  indulged  in.  It  has 
also  been  found  to  be  utterly  impracticable  to  stop  the  abuse 
while  the  old  treaties  are  maintained.  An  English  vessel  of 


THE  EAST  AFRICAN  SLAVE-TRADE.  7(59 

war  has  constantly  been  kept  cruising  about  the  Persian 
Gulf,  but  it  could  not,  of  course,  overhaul  every  little  trading 
dhow,  and  even  when  it  tried  to  do  so  its  intervention  has 
been  but  rarely  of  any  use. 

The  traders  seldom  ventured  upon  importing  a  cargo  of  slaves 
and  nothing  else,  but  distributed  this  kind  of  merchandise 
through  the  entire  trading  marine  of  Muscat  and  Zanzibar. 
Nearly  all  these  native  vessels  are  worked  by  slave  sailors, 
and  nothing  can  be  easier,  therefore,  than  to  elude  the  inquir- 
ies of  the  British  officers  by  representing  that  the  new  impor- 
tations are  part  of  the  legitimate  crew  of  the  vessel.  But 
even  this  excuse  was  more  than  was  necessary.  Legally,  it 
is  sufficient,  to  secure  exemption  from  seizure,  to  make  a 
declaration  that  the  slaves  are  the  property  of  subjects  of  the 
Imaum  of  Muscat,  and  are  intended  for  their  sole  use,  and 
will  not  be  re-exported  from  that  place  to  any  of  the  other 
ports  on  the  Gulf.  Practically,  therefore,  the  slave-trade  in 
this  direction  is  free  as  air. 

Just  a  few  features  of  Arab  slavery  will  demonstrate  satis- 
factorily its  comparative  mildness.    Probably  nearly  two-thirds 
of  the  imported  slaves  are  women,  designed  for  the  purpose 
of  concubinage.     But  even  though  an  Arab  has  become  the 
owner  of  a  female  slave,  he  is  not  permitted  by  the  law  to  co- 
habit with  her,  except  with  her  own  voluntary  consent,  and 
he  would  be  severely  punished  by  the  cazee,  or  judge,  if  the 
woman  complained  that  he  had  outraged  her  by  force.     And 
should  the  woman  consent  and  the  union  be  a  fruitful  one,  the 
mere  fact  of  having  borne  a  child  to  her  master  frees  the  hap- 
py mother,  and  further  imposes  upon  her  former  owner  the 
duty  of  maintaining  her  for  the  rest  of  her  life  in  his  own 
household  as  an  inseparable  member  of  his  family.     She  may 
be  required  to  perform  certain  domestic  services,  but  can 
never  be  again  sold,  and  is  to  all  intents  and  purposes  a  sort 
of  supernumerary  wife.     And,  lastly,  so  far  as  the  offspring  of 
such  commerce  is  concerned,  the  law  is  even  more  humane 
still.     Not  only  is  the  child  free,  but  he  is  equal  in  all  respects 
with  the  other  white  (or,   rather,  Arab-colored,  for  Semites 


770  THE  EAST  AFRICAX  SLAVE-TRADE. 

can  scarcely  perhaps  be  called  white)  and  legitimately  born 
children.  Provision  must  be  made  for  him  out  of  the  estate 
of  his  father  at  his  death  the  same  as  for  the  others,  and  should 
the  vote  of  the  assembled  family  call  upon  him  to  assume  the 
headship  of  the  family,  which  in  Muscat  is  an  elective  not  an 
hereditary  distinction,  he  is  as  eligible  as  any  of  his  half-breth- 
ren. To  give  a  case  in  point,  the  present  rulers  of  both  Zan- 
zibar and  Muscat  are  largely  colored  with  black  slave  blood, 
but  are  nevertheless  obeyed  with  the  same  obedience  by  their 
white  subjects  as  though  they  were  of  pure  descent. 

The  prejudice  of  color,  indeed,  is  altogether  unintelligible, 
not  to  say  abominably  wicked  and  revolting,  in  the  eyes  of  a 
good  Moslem.  To  him  all  men  are  the  children  of  Allah,  the 
All-Wise,  the  All-Seeing,  the  All-Benevolent  One  and  only 
God ;  and  that  curious  supposition,  once  so  strongly  favored 
in  the  South,  that  a  negro  has  no  soul,  would  strike  him  as 
an  ineffably  horrible  and  blasphemous  doctrine.  Inequalities 
of  fortune,  however,  are  a  much  more  simple  matter,  and  that 
a  man  should  be  so  unlucky  as  to  have  a  master  is,  as  he  looks 
upon  it,  merely  a  decree  of  Allah,  which,  if  the  man  be  wise 
and  pious,  he  will  cheerfully  submit  to.  In  consequence  of 
these  views  the  first  thing  an  Arab  does  with  his  slave  is  to 
try  and  make  him  a  Mohammedan,  and  in  this  he  is  almost 
invariably  successful;  though  now  and  then  one  hears  of  a 
negro  practising  in  secret  the  old  heathen  rites  of  his  native 
land.  And,  the  slave  once  converted,  the  two  men — the  own- 
er and  the  owned — generally  cultivate  toward  each  other  a 
kindliness  of  feeling  which  is  sometimes  singularly  touching. 

The  writer  has  seen  a  dhow  set  out  for  Zanzibar  from  Muscat 
in  charge  of  a  black  slave  captain,  with  a  crew  composed  en- 
tirely of  slave  sailors.  They  were  all  perfectly  contented  and 
happy,  and  the  slave  who  was  captain  listened  to  his  master's 
final  instructions  in  very  much  the  same  loyally  respectful 
spirit  that  an  American  skipper  would  listen  to  his  owner. 
That  ship,  of  course,  came  back,  and  the  slave  captain  gave  his 
master  a  faithful  account  of  his  stewardship.  As  a  further 
illustration  of  the  spirit  of  Arab  slavery,  it  may  be  said  that 


THE  EAST  AFRICAN  SLAVE-TRADE.  771 

on  the  death,  of  an  Arab  his  slaves  are  very  frequently,  if  not 
always,  liberated  in  pursuance  of  his  last  wishes — not  be- 
queathed to  his  heirs. 

But,  no  matter  how  mild  this  bondage  may  be,  there  is 
always  in  the  background  that  terrible  picture  of  the  means 
by  which  the  slaves  are  originally  procured — the  native  wars, 
the  desolation  of  immense  tracts  of  country,  the  deaths  from 
heartache,  and  the  utter  misery  of  forced  abandonment  of 
those  ties  which  are,  probably,  as  dear — yes,  certainly  as  dear, 
though,  perhaps,  unconsciously  so — to  black  as  to  white.  And 
again,  there  is  another  dark  stain  upon  the  system — the  mu- 
tilation of  the  boys  so  as  to  fit  them  for  the  duties  of  the 
eunuch.  This  hideous  crime  is  perpetrated  as  soon  after  cap- 
ture as  convenient,  and  thougli  only  attempted  with  children 
of  tender  age,  it  is  said  that  at  least  four  out  of  five  operated 
upon  perish  from  the  injuries  they  receive.  Slavery,  there- 
fore, even  at  the  best,  is  an  accursed  thing,  and  every  good 
man  will  rejoice  that  there  is  now  a  bright  prospect  of  its 
being  finally  abolished  in  what  is  now,  perhaps,  its  greatest 
stronghold." 

The  dispatches  of  Dr.  Livingstone  by  Stanley  reached  Eng- 
land at  a  singularly  fortunate  moment.  Parliament  was  just 
then  discussing  measures  for  the  more  effectual  suppression 
of  the  East  African  slave-trade.  Lord  Stratheden  had  moved 
on  the  23d  of  July  an  address  to  the  queen,  praying  for  a 
more  rigid  enforcement  of  the  restraints  upon  the  traffic  in 
question.  In  the  debate  which  followed,  reference  was  had 
to  the  evidence  collected  by  a  select  committee  of  the  House 
of  Commons  appointed  a  year  previously,  disclosing  the  extent 
of  the  traffic  in  slaves  at  Zanzibar,  and  the  ruinous  effects  of 
the  trade  in  the  interior  of  Africa. 

The  testimony  of  Dr.  Livingstone,  coming  at  this  oppor- 
tune moment,  and  corroborating  the  evidence  already  before 
Parliament,  awakened  the  British  government  to  a  sense  of 
duty,  and  France  and  the  United  States  were  asked  to  co-ope- 
rate in  the  only  plan  by  which  the  nefarious  traffic  could  be 
stopped,  viz:  the  immediate  abrogation  of  the  commercial 


772          THE  EAST  AFRICAN  SLAVE-TRADE. 

treaties  with  Muscat,  unless  the  sultan  of  that  kingdom  will 
consent  to  the  cancellation  of  the  clauses  in  relation  to  the 
slave-trade. 

Dr.  Livingstone  proposed  this  plan  for  the  annihilation  of 
the  slave-trade  on  the  Eastern  Coast,  that  the  native  Christians 
of  one  or  more  of  the  English  settlements  on  the  "West  Coast, 
that  had  fully  accomplished  their  mission  in  suppressing  the 
trade  there,  should  voluntarily  migrate  to  some  healthy  spot  on 
the  east  side  of  Africa,  and  thus  make  themselves  twice  useful. 

This  proposition  did  not  meet  with  much  favor  from  the 
English  public.  The  truth  is,  England,  with  all  her  benevo- 
lence and  with  all  her  hatred  of  slavery,  has  never  manifested 
much  confidence  in  negroes.  The  plan  of  civilizing  and 
Christianizing  East  Africa  by  the  introduction  of  Christian 
negroes  from  the  West  Coast,  appeared  to  the  average  English- 
man as  visionary.  Dr.  Livingstone  preferred  Christian  negroes 
to  Europeans  as  a  civilizing  power  for  East  Africa,  but  the 
London  Daily  News  thus  speaks  of  his  plan : — 

"  Dr.  Livingstone  is  opposed  to  the  introduction  of  '  Euro- 
peans, even  as  missionaries,'  among  the  settlers  on  the  East 
Coast.  No  doubt  *  brandy,  black  women,  and  lazy  inactivity ' 
have  played  their  part  in  the  shortening  of  European  life  in 
Africa ;  but  were  it  not  for  the  Christianity  upheld  by  the 
constant  presence  of  the  Englishman  on  the  "West  Coast,  the 
principles  of  truth  and  justice  would  have  languished  and 
died  in  twelve  months  after  they  were  revealed.  Things 
may  bear  another  reading  on  the  East  Coast ;  but  our  settle- 
ments of  Sierra  Leone,  the  Gambia,  the  Gold  Coast,  and  Lagos 
indicate  nobler  results  on  the  West  Coast  than  that  the 
'  English,  in  new  climates,  reveal  themselves  to  be  born  fools.' 
No  plan  of  native  emigration,  though  the  members  may  be 
Christian,  would  answer  unless  the  resident  leaders  were 
Europeans ;  and  if  one  mental  attribute  is  more  wanting  to 
the  native  African  than  another,  it  is  that  very  attribute  of 
which  the  purposes  of  emigration  stand  so  eminently  in  need 
— the  attributes  of  organization.  Any  settlement  founded  on 
the  hints  thrown  out  by  Dr.  Livingstone  would  be  sure  to 


THE  EAST  AFRICAN  SLAVE-TRADE.  773 

fail ;  and,  perhaps,  when  he  comes  back  full  of  his  experiences, 
to  discuss  the  matter  calmly  with  us,  he  will  think  so  too." 

Probably  Dr.  Livingstone's  plan  never  received  much  con- 
sideration from  the  ministry.  At  all  events  the  Queen's 
speech  at  the  prorogation  of  Parliament  in  August,  contained 
this  short  but  significant  sentence :  "  Government  has  taken 
steps  to  prepare  the  way  for  dealing  more  effectually  with  the 
slave-trade  on  the  East  Coast  of  Africa."  Taking  this  short 
sentence  for  a  text,  the  Pall  Mall  Gazette  thus  ably  discourses 
on  the  East  African  slave-trade : — 

"  There  seems  little  doubt  that  the  trade  can  be  put  down, 
even  without  the  establishment  of  a  free  negro  community 
on  the  Eastern  Coast  as  proposed  by  Dr.  Livingstone  and  Sir 
Bartle  Frere.  The  only  lucrative  markets  for  slaves  are  now 
the  over-sea  markets  of  the  Eastern  Mohammedan  States,  and 
if  the  access  to  these  can  be  prevented,  there  is  every  reason 
to  believe  that  slave-dealing  and  slave-hunting  in  Africa  will 
dwindle  to  insignificant  dimensions.  Great  Britain  has  long 
been  accustomed  to  treat  the  maritime  slave-trade  as  piracy, 
and  the  only  government  which  once  strenuously  resisted 
this  principle— the  United  States  of  America — now  publicly 
patronizes  it. 

If  all  the  waters  on  the  East  African  coast  were 
open  to  the  British  cruisers  of  the  squadron  ordinarily 
stationed  at  Trincomalee,  they  would  probably  make  short 
work  of  the  maritime  trade ;  but  unfortunately  this  does  not 
seem  to  be  the  case,  and  there  appear  to  be  certain  waters 
under  the  sovereignty  of  the  sultan  of  Zanzibar,  into  which 
British  ships  are  prevented  from  entering  under  the  provis- 
ions of  a  treaty  to  which  the  English  government  is  a  party. 
It  thus  happens  that  Zanzibar  has  become  the  chief,  if  not  the 
exclusive,  head  quarters  of  a  tolerable  secure  traffic  in  negroes 
from  the  East  Coast  of  Africa.  At  first  sight  there  would 
seem  to  be  no  difficulty  in  putting  an  end  to  this  treaty  ;  but 
we  believe  that  a  further  hitch  arises  through  engagements 
with  the  sultan,  which  belong  to  the  intricacies  of  Anglo-In- 
dian diplomacy. 


774  THE  EAST  AFRICAN  SLAVE-TRADE. 

The  sultan,  as  lias  been  explained  at  some  length  in  Cap- 
taiff  Burton's  recent  publication,  represents  a  younger  branch 
of  the  Sultan  or  Imauin  of  Muscat  in  Eastern  Arabia,  who 
have  long  been  under  the  special  protection  of  the  British 
government,  and  whose  authority  is  the  keystone  of  British 
ascendancy  in  the  Persian  Gulf.  Muscat  and  Zanzibar, 
though  divided  by  so  many  miles  of  stormy  sea,  were  once 
under  the  same  dynasty ;  but  there  was  a  quarrel  about  the 
succession,  as  is  usual  in  such  States,  and  this  dispute  Lord 
Canning,  when  Governor  General  of  India,  is  understood  to 
have  appeased  by  assigning  Muscat  to  one  pretender  and  Zan- 
zibar to  the  other.  Unfortunately,  as  it  now  turns  out,  the 
Governor  General  decided  that  Zanzibar  should  every  year 
pay  to  Muscat  a  tribute  or  subsidy  as  a  mark  of  semi-feudal 
dependence,  and  this  payment  appears  to  be  the  real  source 
of  the  present  difficulty. 

The  sultan  of  Zanzibar  practically  maintains  his  right  to 
license  the  maritime  traffic  in  slaves,  on  the  plea  that  the 
export  duty  merely  reimburses  him  for  the  tribute  which  he 
has  to  make  good  under  the  diplomatic  arrangement  of  the 
British  government,  and  he  alleges  that  he  simply  cannot 
afford  for  this  reason  to  open  the  waters  of  Zanzibar  to  Brit- 
ish ships  of  war.  In  order  therefore,  to  put  down  the  trade, 
England  must  apparently  not  only  employ  her  own  vessels, 
but  must  buy  up  the  vested  interests  of  the  ruler  from  whose 
harbors  the  exportation  takes  place." 

The  significance  of  the  Queen's  speech  was  fully  appre- 
ciated when  it  was  announced  that  Sir  Bartle  Frere  was  com- 
missioned by  government  to  visit  Zanzibar  and  Muscat  with 
full  powers  over  the  African  question.  A  commissioner  more 
able  and  more  acceptable  to  the  English  nation  could  hardly 
have  been  selected.  Who  Sir  Bartle  Frere  is,  and  what  is  the 
nature  of  the  commission  which  he  is  expected  to  execute, 
cannot  be  told  better  than  by  giving  the  substance  of  the 
speech  made  by  Sir  Henry  Eawlinson,  the  President  of 
the  British  Koyal  Geographical  Society  at  a  farewell  dinner 


SIR  BARTLE  FRERE,  K.  C.  B,,  G.  C.  S.  I. 


THE  EAST  AFRICAN  SLAVE-TRADE.  777 

given  by  the  Society  on  the  first  of  November,  1872,  in  honor 
of  the  distinguished  commissioner.  When  the  toast  of  the 
evening,  "  The  health  of  Sir  Bartle  Frere,"  was  proposed, 
President  Rawlinson  said : 

"  The  present  is  an  occasion  in  which  the  geographers  of 
the  Society  and  men  of  science  take  a  common  course  with  all 
the  citizens  of  this  great  Empire  and  the  members  of  the 
Christian  world.  We  are  met  to  do  honor  to  Sir  Bartle  Frere, 
on  his  departure  from  England  to  fulfil  the  mission  with  which 
he  has  been  entrusted  by  the  government.  He  is  one  of  the 
Vice  Presidents  of  our  Society.  He  has  often  presided  over 
our  meetings,  and  by  his  suavity  and  tact  he  has  often  recalled 
the  memory  of  our  late  President,  Sir  R.  Murchison.  He  has 
also  taken  an  active  part  in  the  working  labors  of  the  Soci- 
ety. His  counsel  has  often  been  of  the  utmost  value  in  guid- 
ing the  fortunes  of  the  Society ;  he  has  also  contributed  papers 
to  our  journals,  and  he  has  taken  an  active  part  in  the  discus- 
sion of  those  questions  of  geographical  interest  which  luive 
come  before  us  But  he  is  not  only  a  geographer,  or  a  patron 
of  geographers.  He  is  a  statesman— an  earnest,  thoughtful 
and  honest  statesman — one  of  those  clear-headed,  large-hearted 
men  who  will  go  down  to  future  ages'  as  among  the  benefac- 
tors of  mankind.  I  will  not  pretend  to  recapitulate  the  pub- 
lie  life  of  Sir  Bartle  Frere,  but  I  must  refer  to  one  or  two  of 
its  incidents.  He  was  trained  up  in  that  nursery  of  great  men, 
the  civil  service  of  India ;  in  it  he  passed  thirty  years  of  his 
life,  till  he  arrived  at  the  highest  post  within  his  reach,  the 
government  of  the  presidency  to  which  he  belonged.  His 
administration  of  Scinde  during  the  Sepoy  rebellion  of  1857 
evinced  the  highest  qualities  of  statesmanship,  and  brought 
him  prominently  forward  as  one  of  the  ablest  men  of  his  day. 
It  has  been  said  of  him,  that  he  found  the  province  a  desert 
and  left  it  a  garden.  He  began  the  administration  under  all 
possible  disadvantages,  but  he  succeeded  in  converting  the  law- 
less marauders  of  the  province  into  industrious  and  peaceful 
peasants. 

"  For  his  services    he    received    the   special    thanks    of 


778  THE  EAST  AFRICAN  SLAVE-TRADE. 

both  houses  of  Parliament  and  was  made  a  Knight  Com- 
mander of  the  Bath.  His  subsequent  government  of  Bombay 
was  equally  creditable  to  him,  and  is  still  remembered  in  India 
with  feelings  of  the  deepest  gratitude.  The  chief  character- 
istic of  Sir  Bartle  Frere,  if  he  will  allow  me  to  say  so,  is  an 
entire  abnegation  of  self,  and  an  absolute  devotion  to  the  in- 
terests of  those  committed  to  his  care.  To  a  vigorous  under- 
standing and  a  strong  tenacity  of  purpose,  he  adds  a  gentle 
disposition,  a  genial  manner  and  an  active  sympathy  with  suf- 
fering, which  have  made  him  most  deservedly  popular  in 
whatever  sphere  his  lot  has  been  cast.  I  venture  to  say  that 
no  Indian  statesman,  not  even  the  late  lamented  Viceroy,  was 
ever  more  beloved  than  Sir  Bartle  Frere  by  the  native  popu- 
lations with  whom  he  has  been  brought  into  contact.  We 
shall  miss  him  during  his  absence  from  us,  but  we  shall  not 
regret  the  cause  when  we  consider  the  important  duties  that 
he  has  been  called  upon  to  perform.  It  is  highly  honorable 
to  him  and  to  the  glorious  civil  service  of  the  old  East  India 
Company,  that  he  should  have  been  selected  for  the  mission 
in  preference  to  the  many  able  members  of  the  regular  diplo- 
matic service  who  might  have  been  chosen.  "We  congratulate 
him  on  the  eminence  he  has  achieved,  and  we  wish  him  '  God- 
speed '  on  his  mission ;  and  we  can  assure  him,  as  all  the 
friends  of  civilization  and  humanity  must  do,  that  if  he  suc- 
ceeds in  putting  a  stop  to  the  detestable  slave-trade  on  the 
East  Coast  of  Africa,  a  brighter  and  more  enduring  crown  of 
glory  will  surround  his  brow  than  if  he  had  been  the  hero  of 
a  hundred  battles. 

"  I  will  now  say  a  few  words  on  another  subject — the  ex- 
tension of  our  geographical  knowledge  that  we  may  look  for- 
ward to  from  this  mission.  The  name  of  Livingstone  is  dear 
to  the  Geographical  Society,  and  we  know  that  whatever  may 
be  said  to  the  contrary,  Livingstone  often  turns  to  us  with 
pride  and  affection,  as  to  his  foster  parent  and  best  friend. 
Sir  Bartle  Frere  is  one  of  his  oldest  friends.  He  started  him 
on  his  present  expedition,  and  furnished  him  with  credentials 
to  persons  in  Zanzibar,  which  proved  to  be  of  the  utmost 


THE  EAST  AFRICAN  SLAVE-TRADE.  779 

value.  Livingstone  has  never  lost  an  opportunity  of  expres- 
sing the  deep  sense  of  obligation  which  he  felt  himself  to  be 
under  to  Sir  Bartle  Frere ;  and,  altogether,  we  think  it  is  far 
from  improbable  that  when  the  news  of  this  mission  to  Zan- 
zibar reaches  Dr.  Livingstone,  and  that  its  object  is  that  an 
end  may  be  put  to  that  hateful  traffic  which  it  has  been  the 
object  of  his  life  to  denounce  and  destroy,  we  think  there  is 
reason  to  hope  that  the  Doctor  may  come  down  to  Zanzibar 
to  hold  personal  communication  with  his  old  and  tried  friend 
Sir  Bartle  Frere,  before  proceeding  on  his  expedition  to  the 
south  of  Lake  Tanganyika.  At  any  rate,  Sir  Bartle  Frere,  on 
arriving  at  Zanzibar,  will  be  able  to  judge  what  measures  had 
best  be  adopted  to  strengthen  Livingstone's  hands,  and  to 
enable  him  to  pursue  his  expedition  with  satisfaction  to  him- 
self and  with  benefit  to  his  country.  For  these  reasons  we 
have  decided  to  give  Sir  Bartle  Frere  discretionary  power 
over  the  balance  of  the  Livingstone  fund  still  remaining  in 
our  hands,  in  order  that  he  may  apply  it  as  he  judges  to  be 
best  for  the  interest  of  Livingstone,  and  thus  we  shall  also  in- 
sure that  the  fund  will  be  spent  in  accordance  with  the  wishes 
of  those  who  subscribed  to  it." 

From  the  well  known  energy  and  tact  of  Sir  Bartle  Frere, 
the  English  public  and  all  friends  of  freedom  entertain  the 
highest  hopes  that  he  will  accomplish  the  delicate  and  diffi- 
cult mission  of  giving  the  death-blow  to  the  slave-trade  of 
Eastern  Africa,  its  last  strong-hold.  God  speed  him  on  his 
mission. 


INDEX 


AFRICA,  17. 

African  Explorations,  91. 

Among  the  Cannibals,  583. 

Ashangoes,  97. 

Ashiras,  98. 

Auderssen's  Travels,  115. 

Abyssinia,  33,  763. 

Ashanti,  54. 

Amazons,  60. 

Angola,  236. 

Atada,  711. 

Albert  N'yanzi.  712. 

B 

BURTON,  Trip  to  Ujiji,  344. 

At  Unyanyembe,  369. 

At  Ujiji,  375. 

On  Tanganyika  Lake,  379. 

At  Uvira,  379. 

Return  to  Zanzibar,  384. 
Earth's  Travels,  109. 
Barbary  States,  23. 
Bedouins,  28. 
Bornu,  46. 
Benin,  74 
Bonny,  74. 
Benguela,  75. 
Bechuanas,  87. 
Bushman,  88. 
Batokas,  258. 

Bennett's  Instructions,  326. 
Bagamoyo,  343. 
Baines  among  the  Makota,  87. 
Banians,  593. 
BAKER'S  EXPEDITION,  700. 

At  Cairo,  700. 

Across  the  Desert,  700. 

The  Blue  Nile,  700. 

At  Berber,  700. 

In  Abygsinia,  703. 

Hunting  Rhinoceros,  703. 

Hunting  Lions,  707. 

At  Khartoum,  708. 

At  Gondokoro,  708. 

Meets  Speke  and  Grant,  708. 

At  Latooka,  711. 

At  Obbo,  711. 

At  Atada,  711. 

At  Unyoro,  712. 

c 

CLAPPERTON'S  TRAVELS,  95. 

Cammas,  109. 

Cape  Town  Founded,  110. 

Campbell's  Travels,  110. 

Congo,  709. 

Chiboque,  221; 

Chapman  among  the  Makota,  87. 

Cape  Town,  759. 


Cazembe,  551. 
Chambezi  River,  522. 
Cazembe's  Queen,  521. 
Cannibals,  563. 


DENHAM'S  TRAVELS,  95. 
Durban,  724. 
Diamond  Fields,  755. 
Du  Chaillu's  Travels,  96 
Desert  of  Sahara,  11. 
Dahomey,  58. 
Damara,  82. 

E 

EGBAS,  70. 
EXPEDITIONS. 

Anderssen's,  115. 

Earth's,  109. 

Clapperton's,  95. 

Chapman's,  87. 

Denham's,  95. 

Du  Challu's,  96. 

Lander's,  95. 

Mungo  Park's,  92. 

Moffat's  110. 

Magyar's,  119. 

Murray's,  156. 

Overweg's,  109. 

Oswell's,  156. 

Reade's,  102. 

Richardson's,  69. 

Livingstone's,  123,  289,  312. 

Burton's,  344. 

Speke's,  344. 

Grant's,  374. 

Baker's,  700. 

Speke's  373. 

N.  Y.  Herald's,  326. 

Livingstone-Search,  553. 


FANS,  103. 

Fanti,  54. 

Frere  Bartle  Sir,  777. 

G 

GORILLAS,  102. 

Gani,  699. 

Gondoroko,  699,  70a 

Gold  mines,  763. 

Gaboon  Coast,  75. 

Guinea,  75. 

GRANT  AT  KAZK,  683. 
At  UKulima's  Valley, 
At  Uzinza,  686. 
At  Usui,  687. 
At  Karatfue,  68& 
At  Ugunda  696. 
At  Unyoro,  696. 


INDEX. 


781 


GRANT'S  EXPEDITION,  683. 
Among  the  Gani,  699. 
At  Madi,  699. 
At  Gondokoro,  699. 
Meets  Baker,  699. 
Down  the  Nile,  699. 


HAMRAN  ARABS,  31. 

Hottentots,  88. 

Hopo,  147. 

Herald  Expedition,  326. 

His  Story  to  Lord  Clarendon,  586. 


ISHAGOS,  70—97. 


KRUMEN,  54. 

Khartoum,  708. 

Karuma  Falls,  708. 

KIRK,  DR.,  Arraignment  of,  438. 

"      Shooting  at  Bagamoyo,  442. 
Kaze,  Speke  at,  683, 
Karague,  688. 
Kamrasi,  King,  696,  712. 
Korannas,85. 
Kalahari  Desert,  157, 
Kilimane,  285. 
Kolobeng,  138. 
Kuruman,  131. 


LAKE  TCHAD  DISCOVERED,  95. 

Lander's  Travels,  95. 

Lake  N garni  Discovered. 

Liberia,  53. 

Loango,  75. 

Linyanti,  236. 

Lake  Nyassa  Discovered,  297. 

Latooka,  711. 

Limpopo  River, 

Land  of  the  Moon,  366. 

Lake  Victoria,  383. 

Lake  Bangweolo,  523. 

Lake  Lincoln,  526,  578,  588. 

Lualaba  River,  526,  578. 

LakeMoero  527,578. 

Lake  Kamolondo,  527. 

Lumeresi  King,  684. 

Lake  Albert,  712. 

LIVINGSTONE'S  TRAVELS,  123. 

Early  life,  123. 

At  Kmruman,  131. 

In  t  li»  Bakwain  Country,  133. 

At  Kolobeng,  138. 

Mabotea,  139. 

In  the  Kalahari  Desert,  157. 

Among  the  Bakobas, 

At  Lake  Ngami,  161. 

Among  the  Makololo,  177. 

The  Balonda,  195. 

With  Shinte,  the  great  chief,  202. 

Among  the  Chibociue,  221. 

In  Angola,  226. 

At  St.  Paul  de  Loanda,  239. 


LIVINGSTONE'S  TRAVELS. 
At  Linyanti,  252. 
At  the  Victoria  Falls,  254. 
Among  the  Batokas,  258. 
At-Tete,  278. 
At  Senna,  281. 
Down  the  Zambesi,  282. 
At  Kilimane,  285. 
In  England,  288. 
ZAMBESI  EXPEDITION,  289. 
The  Ma  Robert,  251. 
Up  the  Shire,  252. 
Lake  Nyassa  Discovered,  297. 
Among  the  Makololo,  298. 
Mrs.  Livingstone's  death,  304. 
The  Rovuma,  306. 
Expedition  recalled,  309. 
In  England,  310. 
THIRD  EXPEDITION,  312. 
At  Zanzibar,  312. 
On  the  Rotuma,  312. 
Reports  from  the  Interior  of  his 

Death,  214. 

Found  by  Stanley,  486. 
On  Lake  Tanganyika,  505. 
On  River  Rusizi,  512. 
Late  Adventures,  515. 
With  Cazembe,  521. 
At  Ujiji,  536. 

Return  to  Unyanyembe,  540. 
Letter  to  Stanley,  549. 

"      "  Bennett,  563. 

"     "  Bennett,  563. 

"     "  His  Brother,  664. 

"     "  Mr.  Stearns,  660. 

M 

MCNOO  PARK,  92. 
Moflat's  Travels,  110. 
Magyar's  Travels,  119. 
Mirage,  24. 
Mountains,  18. 
Mandingoes,  52. 
Mpongue,  76. 
Makololo,  87,  177,  298. 
Murray'i  Travels,  156. 
Mrima,  836. 

Manyema.  525,  532,  566,  577. 
Missionaries,  730. 
Mtesa  King,  692. 
Madi,  699. 

N 

NIGER  DISCOVERED.  92. 

Natal,  720. 

Niger  Discovered,  mouth  of,  95.    •" 

Nubia,  33. 

Nameless  Lake,  527. 


OVERWBG'S  TRAVELS,  109. 

Ovambo,  81. 

Oswell's  Travels,  156. 

Obbo,  711. 

Orange  Free  State,  756, 


782 


INDEX. 


PIETEK  MARITZBURQH,  726. 
Port  Elizabeth.  759. 
Pniel,  763. 


RIVERS,  20. 
Reade's  Travels,  102. 
Richardson's  Travels,  109. 
Rain  Making,  112,  123. 
Rovuma,  306.  _j 

River  Limpopo,  763. 
River  Lualaba,  528. 
Rumanika  King,  688.  1 
River  Nile,  696,  699. 

The  Blue  Nile,  700. 

The  Atbara,  700. 

S 

STANLEY  AT  PARIS,  329. 

Zanzibar,  330. 

Bagamoyo,  343,  385,  396. 

Trip  to  Unyanyembe.  386. 

Leaves  Bagamoyo  westward,  398. 

In  Ugogo,  406. 

At  Kwihara,  386. 

In  Unyanyerabe,  408. 

Fighting  Mirambo,  412. 

Arraignment  of  Dr.  Kirk,  438. 

At  Ugunda,  452. 

At  Ukonongo,  461. 

At  Uvinza,470. 

At  Ujiji,  486. 

With  Livingstone,  490. 

On  Lake  Tanganyika,  505. 

On  River  Rusizi,  512. 

Return  to  Unyanyembe,  540. 

Parts  with  Livingstone,  545. 

Returns  to  Bagamoyo,  546 

Interview  with  Lt.  Henn,  546. 

Sails  for  Seychelles,  550. 

In  France,  507. 

At  London,  618. 

At  Brighton,  621. 

At  Glasgow,  641. 

At  Edinburgh,  653. 

At  New  York,  654. 

Speech  at  Lotus  Club,  658. 

With  John  Livingstone,  663. 

Early  Life,  669. 

Supposed  Birth-Place,  674. 

Antecedents,  675. 

Lewis  H.  Noe's  Story,  677. 

Letter  to  Noe,  679. 

"       to  Mr.  Bennett,  680. 
SPEKE  AT  KAOLE,  344. 

Among  the  Wazaromo,  345. 

Among  the  Wakhuta,  352. 

At  Zungomero,  353. 

On  the  Usagara  Mountains,  354. 

In  Ugogo,  359. 

At  Unyanyembe,  365,  383. 

At  Ujiji,  375. 

On  Tanganyika  Lake,  379. 


SPEKE  AMONG  THB 

At  Uvira,  379. 

At  Victoria  Nyanza,  383.      1 

Zanzibar  return  to,  384. 

New  Expedition  in  1860,  683.   ' 

At  Ukulima's  Village,  684. 

Uzinza,  684. 

Usui,  087. 

Karague,  688. 

Ugunda,  692. 

Unyoro,  696. 

Among  the  Gani.  699. 

Among  the  Madi,  699.    ] 

At  Gondoroko,  699. 

Meets  Baker,  699. 

Down  the  Nile,  699. 
Slave  Trade,  582,  585,  764. 
Shooas,  51. 
Soudan,  52. 
Schele,  132. 
Shinte,  202. 

St.  Paul  de  Loanda,  336. 
Senna,  281. 


TETE,  278. 
TANGANYIKA  LAKE,  371. 

Cruise  of  Speke  and  Burton,  379. 

Cruise  of  Stanley  and  Livingstone, 

505 

Tibboos,  27. 
Tuaricks,  27. 
Transvaal  Republic,  756. 


UZARAMO,  345. 
Usagara  Mountains,  354. 
Ugogo,  359. 
Unyanyembe,  365. 

'•  Life  at,  420. 

Ujiji,  375-486. 
Uvira,  370. 
Ugunda,  452,  682. 
Uzinza,  684, 
Ukulima's  Village,  684, 
Usui,  687. 
Unyoro,  686-712. 


VICTORIA  FALLS,  254. 
Victoria  Nyanza,  383 

w 

WAZARAMO,  345. 
Wakhuta,  352. 
Wanyamwezi,  358,  369. 
WakonoBgo,  457. 
Webb's  River,  522. 


ZANZIBAR,  332. 
Zungomero,  353. 
Zulus,  727. 
Zambesi  River,  332-762.  \ 


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